WELCOME TO OUR EDITION FOR FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 4th, 2020
GETTING
STARTED IN PREPPING
THE
MOMENT OF TRUTH
“Bullfight
critics, row on row, crowd the massive Plaza de Torus. But there is only one
there who knows the moment of truth, and he is the one who faces the bull…..”
Robert Graves
We
come now to one of the most difficult aspects of prepping, especially for the
new prepper, the thought of actually having to defend your home and family from
an invader.
Mama
Donna and I have a deep respect for human life and for people in general. We
are realistic, however. If during normal times, we have an invader, we will
retreat as reasonably as we can and call the police. We will resort to
defensive measures if there is no reasonable alternative. If I have to fire
upon an attacker I will go for the legs and feet to incapacitate them. This is
because the goal here is to either frighten them off or stop them long enough
for the police to arrive, but in a non-life threatening manner.
During
some kind of event, however, where I know the police can’t get to us due to
having their hands full, blocked roads, or lack of communication, I will not
hesitate to aim center mass and pull the trigger. They can put me on trial
later if they wish.
If
you come to that moment of truth, you can’t hesitate. You have put up the food
and water to survive. None of that is any good if you and your wife are dead
and believe me, these are animals, they will kill.
We
will discuss in depth various means of active defense, types of knives,
firearms or hand to hand combat, but NONE of that will do any good if you are
NOT mentally prepared to do what you must do. Forget the computer games, and
the camo crowd. This is for REAL.
I
was a US Army Infantryman and I agree with what the character said in “Gran
Torino” about killing a man “You don’t want to know what that’s like.” But you
have to be prepared for the fact that you may not have the choice. Forget all
the ooey-gooey, peace, love, slippy
dippy liberal hogwash that’s been poured out like some rancid syrup over us for
the last 30 odd years. As the old saying goes, “the lion doesn’t care if you
are a vegetarian.” That looter cares nothing for human life, starting with his
own.
I
hope and pray NONE of us will have to face that moment of truth.
GETTING
STARTED IN PREPPING PART XIV
HAND
TO HAND
As this is a
broad area, I will be covering it in across a number of postings.
Our
next step in active defense during a 72 hour event is hand to hand combat. Some
may question this as the image many have of home defense is facing the bad guy
down with your 12 gauge shotgun, or pistol.
. There
is something that some of us have learned from sometimes bitter experience,
namely NOTHING GOES TO BLAZES IN A
BUCKET QUICKER THAN A PLAN IN A COMBAT SITUATION. Added to that is another
piece of wisdom written in blood DEPENDING
ON AND BEING TOO ATTACHED TO ANY WEAPON OR PIECE OF EQUIPMENT CAN GET YOU
KILLED.
I
know the feeling. There are many firearms I like for their look and feel, from
the Luger to the Broom Handled Mauser, others for their effectiveness, such as
the .45 Auto. And I am prepared to use what I have in a situation. But I also
know Mr. Murphy loves combat and throws in every monkey wrench he can such as
jams, feed problems, safeties still on, round not chambered, firing pins
breaking , gas tubes busting , ammo failure and God only knows what else.
Along
with all that is the need to have that weapon right with you right when you
need it. If you ever were in the combat arms and humped a weapon day and night,
you know you want to clean it and rack it as soon as you can. The Hollywood/TV
image of people walking around with weapons all the time is a crock in my
opinion. You might be able to have a holster for a pistol, or tuck it into a
belt, but you will soon find how uncomfortable that is unless you’ve done it
day after day. And lastly, right at the moment of combat, your weapon might get
knocked away.
So
now it’s man to man, hand to hand, so this is NOT the time to be thinking of
what to do. You need to act swiftly and effectively. I have a great respect for
the various martial arts and those who work very hard to attain their belts and
levels. In my opinion, however, what works in a wide open, well lit dojo in a
tournament with rules and judges doesn’t work quite so well in a dim lit,
furniture filled living room. I fall back on what Scott French called the
“mother-in-law” fighting style, namely
you hit them with a brick, stick, car antenna, mother-in-law, or anything else,
as there is neither fighting styles or rules in this game. It’s kill or be
killed.
GETTING STARTED IN PREPPING PART XV
HAND
TO HAND
Every part of the body is a target, and
anything at hand is a weapon. -David
Beall
I want to thank one of our fine readers,
David Beall, for putting the theme of the next few articles on Hand to Hand
home defense into a nutshell.
We will be discussing the human body
not only offensively, as in what you can hit at, but also defensively , as in
what you can possibly do to protect yourself if attacked. Note that none of
these will be “fighting styles” and you are welcome to add any ideas you wish.
In
the old movie “The Alamo” Davie Crockett (John Wayne) explains his fighting
style, which is to come at trouble anyway he can, and in the least expected way
possible. In this game, there are no rules.
The head in general and the eyes in
particular can be your first target for ANYTHING you can throw at the attacker
to cause them to duck, or to blind them , even if for a moment.
Now attack! This isn’t Hollywood, so
don’t look to exchange punches. Launch what I call a Blitz attack and NEVER let
up until he is down and out. Once you have him blinded or ducking, HAVE AT
HIM!!
Hit him low, from
the ankle, which takes only 8 lbs. of pressure to break, to the knees, by
smashing a lamp or other item across them, to the “cookies” preferably with
some item rather than a foot as you want to stay out of the reach of the
attacker.
Work your way up and ram a chair, lamp or other item into
his solar plexus or at least the stomach. Next the ribs and collarbone are good
targets, but go for jabs and not wide swings which may be blocked. Then finish
up with the throat, the nose area and the sides of the skull.
If he goes down, DO NOT bend over him to check him. If
you can get his weapon and it is a firearm, pump a couple of rounds in his head
and chest. If not, keep hitting him in the head, chest and legs from the
farthest distance from him you can be, such as using a lamp or maybe a small
table, or if the furniture has broken, the table leg. FINISH HIM OFF.
Expect to be sick and throw up afterwards. NO decent
person wants to harm or kill anyone, especially in such a brutal nature and
there may be blood all over you and the room. But the only choice is, will it
be his blood or yours.
GETTING
STARTED IN PREPPING PART XVI
HAND
TO HAND (CONT.)
Now we turn to
one of the worst case scenarios. There is an armed intruder in your home and he
has “the drop” on you. He has a pistol pointed right at you. Now what? The
conventional wisdom calls for you to do whatever and give him whatever he wants
in order to stay alive. That might even be more reasonable in normal times. In
a 72 hour emergency event with no police to even call, and no way to call them,
the game changes drastically. Each of you can decide for yourself what is best.
I will only give you my opinion.
Once
you go that route you have given up any choice over your life and that of your
loved ones. It will all depend now on this intruder. Does he want to tie you up
and take everything you have including your food and water? Does he not want to
take the time and effort and is just going to shoot you and your family? Will
he tie you up and rape you wife, then kill you both? Write your own ending.
You’re betting that this person is not high on something to begin with, and
doesn’t care about leaving any witnesses behind.
On the
other hand, the odds aren’t good. In my opinion, however, you have nothing to
lose. I’m not trying to sound macho when I say go down fighting. In a town 15
miles from us a 89 yr. old grandmother was beaten to death by an intruder last
month. Somehow I’d rather trust my life to fighting back rather than handing it
over.
This
is where the human body comes into play defensively. First, unless he has a
“hand cannon”, such as a magnum, 45 cal. or other large caliber pistol he has
to hit you in the head or throat to stop you in your tracks. Forget Hollywood.
People don’t go down when shot unless the weapon has enough force to knock them
on their butt. The .45 cal. was designed because the Army .38 was not stopping
the Moro warriors in the Philippines. The general rule is, unless the round has
knockdown power, a man with a bullet in his heart has enough time left to rip
the throat out of his attacker.
Second,
a street thug is rarely a good marksman. Given bad lighting, shaky hand, and
maybe being drugged up there is at least a chance for him to miss your head or
throat. Go low and go for a tackle and drive him into a wall. Even if you are
hit, your dead weight will pin him down and perhaps your wife can bash his head
in and get his weapon. If he misses, go for the eyes, ram his head into the
floor or wall, tear at his throat and use anything you can grab and hit
anywhere you can.
I
welcome any criticism or other ideas and I wish I didn’t have to even talk
about this. But you need to know what the reality may be and it’s not some TV
or movie fantasy.
GETTING
STARTED IN PREPPING PART XVII
IMPROVISED
WEAPONS
You cannot be disarmed as long as you realize how
many regular items can be used as weapons. This is not to say you may have them
ready at the time of an event, but you could quickly put them together and have
them handy.
Take a standard white sock, or old nylon. Place a
nice hard bar of soap in in. Tie it off above the soap, then make a loop and
tie it. You can keep it in a pocket or have it near a door. The nylon is
especially good as it gives a snapping effect.
Shoe strings, cords and especially picture hanging
wire make for garrotes. You should double the wire for more strength and if you
wish use, use dowels, or other forms of wood for handles. You can get good handles
from a dollar store jump rope. This can be hung up near a door or also put in a
pocket.
Baseball bats are very good, but most of us don’t
have one, so take the wooden handle off a plunger, or cut one off a rake. You
can make a pair of nun chucks out of them, but unless you are practiced with
them, don’t try it. Use short thrusts to the solar plexus, eyes and throat, and
whacks to the ribs and head
Never forget pots and pans, especially the older ,
heavier type can dent a skull and if they have something in them, water, soup,
or such be it hot or cold, it can be thrown in the attackers eyes and face. If
they try to come in at dinner you can give them their just desserts! LOL!
GETTING
STARTED IN PREPPING PART XVIII
KNIVES
I am not big into fancy knives. I view a knife, like
I do a firearm, as a tool. I have my favorites, like many do. Again this is an
area where some get wrapped up in their special “combat” knife and forget that
anything, including a humble kitchen knife that does the job is good.
Knives have the advantage that they are easier to
carry around on you and are more readily available than a firearm and won’t
jam. In my case, if we were in an event where I felt there was sufficient
threat, I would have my “Air Force survival knife on my belt and my dagger
clipped to my boot. I like the survival knife for its hammerhead that I can
bash the attacker with as well as its blade. We would also have our machete
close at hand for either of us to grab and swing.
I will not try to “teach” a course on how to use a
knife in a fight. There are a few basics
however.
NEVER throw a knife!! Very rarely does a knife stick well enough to
in any way stop an attacker.
NEVER extend your arm out in a thrust! There is too much chance of the target
knocking your knife away or grabbing your arm.
IMO your targets are the throat and the solar plexus
with a drive up under the ribs. DO NOT stab the skull directly. If possible
come in from the back and underneath. If you can’t get to these then try for the
eyes by slashing or stabbing one or both.
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