Happy Easter Everyone!

I hope all of you had a good time today, spending time with your loved ones, your family and friends. Though survival and preparedness is of course the main topic in this website, it´s something that many of us do not that much for ourselves, but so as to provide better for our families.
It is time like these that are good moments to remind ourselves of what’s important in our lives. It´s also a good opportunity to call those people you haven’t talked to in a while for one reason or another. I’ve learned a thing or two about relationships and the more time that goes by, the more reassured I feel about the following: You never know the twists and turns of life and you never know who you may one day ask for help, and that its always better to plant seeds (metaphorically speaking) and build relationships than to hate and destroy relationships. Call it karma, call it common sense or logic, its just the way it works.
I hope today you had the opportunity to do just that.
Happy Easter!
FerFAL

Hammaro: A pretty cool tinder to keep in mind

I’ve seen a good amount of commercial tinder, most of which isn’t that good. Hammaro fire paper card is something I had never tried before until now. Its made in Sweden and it´s not that popular. It can be a bit hard to find but its compact, nontoxic and it works rather well.




Tinder Cards – 18 Pack – For Survival Kits
Because of its thick card format its easy to include in kits and a small piece is enough to turn a firesteel spark into a flame.
In this second video I show how to improvise tinder, in this case using some dry tree bark.


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FerFAL

Fire Starting Implements

Urban or wilderness survival, it doesnt matter, the ability to start a fire is just as important.
Its use as way of keeping warm, cooking, signaling and the psychological comfort it provides during times of emotional struggle, a tool for starting fire is part f the “sacred triad” of everyday carry tools along with a knife and flashlight.
In this video I explore a few options for starting fires.




UCO Stormproof Match Case Kit – Dark Green

Survival Matches, Bulk Tube, NATO Approved (# 9920-00-966-9432), Military

Swedish Firesteel – Army Model, Black Handle

Jarden Home Brands 2235 "Diamond" Kitchen Match Strike On


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FerFAL

Adapting to Normal Life

I was driving around with my family the other day, talking about places to visit. We’re still in that period of time here in Ireland where everything looks and feels new, as in that point in between living here and being here on vacations. We look up interesting places to visit and keep them in mind for going during the weekends.
“I want to go to Derry” my wife said. “The photos I found on line were beautiful”.
Having read a bit about the place and having kept up with the news for the last few months I told her. “OK, lets go, but keep in mind that it may not be as safe as the places we’ve been seeing lately. The other day I read that someone threw a Molotov bomb at a patrol car during some kind of protest”. She looked at me and said “You´re kidding right? You’re worried about a f!*%$ molotov? You forgot already where we used to live?”. Apparently I had. “I know its no big deal, just letting you know that it might not be as perfectly safe and nice as everything else we’ve been seeing lately”.

When I was living in Argentina there were times when I thought that maybe I was exaggerating things, that life there wasn’t that bad. Now that I’m not living there anymore, I feel the other way around. I don’t understand how we could live that way, with that constant fear, fear based on very real, constant threats. We got used to living in a way no one should ever get used to, no one should ever consider it “normal”. Argentines try to convince themselves that everything is just as bad anywhere you go, that it’s a global problem. Like hell it is.

While my wife talked today with my mother in law yesterday, I overheard some of the conversation. She had gone to the supermarket and came back without many food supplies. There’s a shortage of many food items including cooking oil, and cheese seems to have reached record prices. It reminded me of that time when tomatoes in Argentina had reached a global record, the highest price for tomatoes anywhere in the world. Instead of worrying my mother in law said “oh well, I’m sure they will restock next week”.

Later that day I checked some of the news. There was an article in Clarin website about “Baby” Etchecopar, the guy that I wrote about who was involved in a shooting during a home invasion. He related how violence isn’t just a word, but its screams, it´s crying, it´s your loved one lying in a pool of blood, the smell of gunpowder, your son turning to you and a string of blood squirting out of his chest as he says “I´ve been shot!”, your wife plugging the wound with her finger so as to stop the bleeding until the ambulance arrives. That’s violence. And we are supposed to believe that is normal?

These last few months in Ireland have been the happiest of my life indeed, but we can’t change where we come from, what we lived through. At thirty three there are things that will be part of me for the rest of my life. I’m still careful, I still watch over my shoulder, make sure doors are locked and mind my surroundings, but at the same time I see that there’s not that much of a need to worry. Yes, trouble can happen anywhere, it is always possible, but around here you just don’t see that ruthlessness in people’s faces. In Argentina you could just tell by looking at some people, you could tell that they were predators. Sometimes you would walk past them and you could see in their faces that they would have no remorse in stealing from you and hurting you if they had the chance. You could tell they have done it before, you just feel it, you could almost smell it. I haven’t come across that kind of faces around here, and I would see them every day in the streets of Buenos Aires.

A few days ago, my wife and I, we were checking to make sure the doors were locked before going to bed. Just like you automatically lock the doors of your car when you get out of it, doors in our house are kept locked at all times, we’ve been doing it that way for years since the crime in Buenos Aires allows no mistake in this matter. The stress of living that way is just too much, yet at the same time the risk was so very real. It eventually gets to you, that’s why so many Argentines just give up and leave it all to faith, and believe that if something bad happens to you then its just because your number was up that day. Going nuts over it isn’t living according to them. After checking the front door my wife went to the one that opens to the back yard. She twisted the doorknob and it opened. She looked surprised, then she smiled back at me “We forgot to close it”. And still it was all good.
FerFAL

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How much money do you need for bugging out?

So now that you have experienced the ultimate bug out scenario, do you feel you had enough cash set aside for when you decided to go, or do you wish you had been able to have more? Is the one month's expenses worth of cash still a good rule of thumb or would you increase that now, based on your recent experiences?
A-

 Good question. I had been planning to move for sometime so I had more than that read to go. More money certainly makes things easier. Yes, I’ve mentioned that a months worth of expenses in cash is a good idea in case of emergencies such as bugging out. Keep in mind that too often people don’t keep any cash at all or just very little of it. Sometimes you see bug out bags with a few 20s or 50s but little else.

Money is one of the three essentials I mentioned in the “3 Must have items when bugging out of the Country” video for a good reason. While credit cards are readily accepted in most places, it just doesn’t work that way when there’s complications and hard cash rules. Even during normal time cash appeals to people in a certain way and can land you good deals. For example when buying used cars or furniture, “so whats the final price, cash in hand right now?” are words that will get you some discount more often than not. Other times you just cant get around it. Some hotels will ask for a card of some sort, getting car insurance in some countries requires a local bank account, and its difficult to do that with no credit history.

In terms of how much cash you need based on my recent experience, I’d have to say now that a month’s worth of cash is indeed a bare minimum so as to make such a huge change in your life and the life of your family with an acceptable level of comfort and safety. Just landing in some country with only the clothes on your back and little else and expect to be taken care for by family, friends or the estate is a desperate, last resource idea. I’d say that two months worth of expenses would be more realistic. Consider that the plane ticket alone for getting out of there to begin with would consume most of a typical family’s monthly budget.

A good way of knowing more accurately how much you would need would be to make plans ahead of time. Leaving a country with no prior planning is risky and bold to say the least.
Know where it is that you would be moving to. Contact family or friends there and see if you could count on them and hear their advice. No family, no friends? Make friends then! Choose a country that suits you based on cultural equivalence, hopefully a place where you can speak the language fluently.
Once you chose one location or two try traveling there and getting to know your way around. I left for good having never been to Ireland before but it took a lot of researching, I have had experience in moving before and given that I’ve been seriously involved in survival and preparedness for over a decade I may have more experience in these things than the average Joe. For most people, I would not recommend relocating to a country you haven’t visited and spent some time in.

After making up your mind regarding what country you would move to if you had to do so, work on a budget, the more realistic and detailed it is the better. Think rent (don’t forget the deposit) car rental, eventual car purchase, insurance, cost of living, electricity and heating bills, etc. Take a look at the country’s average income to have a better idea of what two months worth of expenses would look like. Try finding out how much a family similar to yours would spend, and when finding different opinions go for the least favorable as probably the most realistic. Another way of looking it would be taking the average income. Supposedly a small family should be able to get by with that and a larger one would probably do ok with two average incomes per household. Once you have an idea of the budget your looking at, add 20% as unexpected expenses and error margin.

FerFAL


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