Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #218

Greetings and welcome to the Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #218.

Thanks for being here and returning to read another edition of the PENL. I hope you find something you enjoy reading. The world is full of crazy stuff coming at us from every angle. How we approach the days ahead and prepare our minds, body, and surroundings will be a huge difference in our ability to cope and survive. Sometimes I feel like the carnival worker trying to convince the folks walking by to pay a quarter and come see the lady with four heads. The reality is, I already know what is behind the tent and I'm able to address and prepare for it to the best of my ability. All I can do now is share it with you and hope you take the same steps. Begging is not an option, nor will I do so. I know many of you are working hard and trying to bring family into your preparedness bucket with little to no success. Plant the seeds and let them grow.

It was another short week and I spend most of the days in Huntsville, AL. I left Huntsville at 92 degrees and arrived to East TN to around 65 ish temps. It was wonderful. And we finally had some rain, though not enough.

Just a quick question, did any of you buy bagged raised bed dirt from a major box store this year? Are you finding its more like saw dust than dirt? It doesn't hold water very well, if at all? If you haven't noticed, double check yours and keep your plants watered well.

Is it possible our major corporations turning woke is because they are being blackmailed? Is it possible the drug cartels are forcing some of these decisions? Something is forcing the hands of corporations we would guess wouldn't go woke. What is it? I believe it is above the federal government.

If you are asking what is going on behind the scenes and want to know more about an important and interesting case waiting to be heard at the Supreme Court, check this out. You won't hear about this on mainstream media. Here is the website to check out. Seven Discoveries Book – 7discoveries

Here is a podcast you can check out to get first hand explanation to what is moving through the system to be heard. Ep. 4459: Pivotal Case Proceeds to SCOTUS Conference – Attention Needed | Special Guest Loy Brunson Joins Doug Hagmann | The Hagmann Report | June 8, 2023 – Hagmann P.I. (hagmannpi.com)

Let us move along....

Communications: You can now follow HFS social media on the following outlets:

Facebook – Hope for Survival -Join us for daily posts on preparedness.

YouTube Channel – Hope for Survival

MeWe: - //mewe.com/p/hopeforsurvival2

Odysee - Hope for Survival (odysee.com)

HFS Thursday Zoom Session - HFS Zoom Rally #111 was conducted, and it was great. The entire evening was spent conducting scenario drills using the minds of the Patriots attending to work through events and discuss how to do things and what they would do. Thanks for your attendance. Hopefully you all rested well after the event. It was a brain buster as stated by one of the attendees.

Check out HFS YouTube. - The two newest HFS YouTube videos are:

- It's a mad, mad world. HFS discusses updated news from a global and national view. This was posted June 4, 2023.

- A chat from the garden on current events and having hope. He also shares a couple video clips from a recent trip to Southern, WV at Babcock State Park posted today, June 2, 2023.

If you have not, please consider subscribing to the HFS YouTube channel by hitting like and then subscribe. Connect and give me a shout. Again, hit subscribe and share with family and friends.

Upcoming Training Opportunities -

Heritage Life Skills - Lite July 21-23, 2023

- Haywood Community College - Hope for Survival will be teaming with Carolina Readiness Supply (CRS) to put this event together and offer some mid-summer preparedness training in Clyde, NC. You can find the class schedule below for two full days of training on many preparedness topics. Get your tickets at the following link. Heritage Life Skills 2023 Event – Carolina Readiness or call 828-456-5310

NOTE: We are adding classes for Friday, July 21, 2023 in the 5 - 630 pm slot. We will post these classes as soon as they are locked in. Please take a close look at the schedule below to note a couple class changes, primarily on Sunday afternoon.

Guest and Newcomers

If you are a guest or newcomer to the HFS journey, please check out this link for additional.

information offered through HFS. https://www.hopeforsurvival.com/post/guest-and-newcomers-information-page

Hope for Survival books and HFS Thumb Drive for Emergency Documents -: You can obtain information on the two HFS books at this link: Survival, Preparedness, Disaster Management for individuals or family (hopeforsurvival.com)

Hope for Survival - How Food, Water, Shelter, and Security Could Save Your Life (Book 1)

Hope for Survival - The Mindset (Book 2)

HFS Thumb Drive for Emergency Documents - We just restocked the HFS Thumb drive and have them available now. Follow this link and you will see the add at the top of the page. Blog | Survival (hopeforsurvival.com)

We must make this brief public announcement to protect the innocent.

Ding, Ding, Ding....Attention HFS readers..... Opinions shared in this newsletter are just that, opinions, and nothing more. Read at your own risk. The owner and author of this site is not responsible for hurt feelings or thin-skinned readers. I do my best to show restraint and respect to the best extent possible. I take as many precautions as possible and try to remain as nonpolitical as possible, however, there are times when I just can't help but point certain things out. Occasionally I use words only Patriots recognize and understand. It's not personal against any non-Patriot. It's just the truth. Sometimes we must pull up our spenders and suck it up. Just saying. Stay the course, read what you want, and avoid the rest. Avoid fear porn as much as possible and the day will be okay. When all else fails… Keep the faith and always have Hope.

Let’s move along and get to some thoughts...

Thoughts for the week

This is birthday week so I'm keeping the newsletter light and taking the day off, but I wanted to get a newsletter posted for your reading.

Doers, Takers, and Dreamers - I want to keep this brief but also make the point. As I always state, my thoughts or comments on observations are professional and not personal. The longer I teach, talk, or support others, doing preparedness, I find three types of people. They are:

- Doers - This is one who is leading the effort. This is the one scheduling training or time on the range. This is the one in the garden working food or going out helping other like minded people.

- Takers - While most are good people, these are people who show up for pizza but never contribute to the bucket that pays for the pizzas. These are the people who never help set up a classroom or break down afterwards. These people aren't followers. They are takers.

- Dreamers - These are good people also, but never get out of the dugout. They show up for every event and take pages of notes, over and over, and never get out of the dugout and in to the game. An easier way of saying it is "all talk and no action." This isn't a personal attack on them. No harm, no foul. They just aren't people who will end up on a good team. Their invisible preparedness bucket fills a semi-trailer. In reality, their semi-trailer is empty because the resources never made it out of their brain into action and reality. You must recognize these types of people when vetting others.

- Preparedness - Sheltering - Understanding Bugging in or Bugging out

No matter who you are or where you reside, sheltering is different based on location, threats, and preparedness level. Your understanding of preparedness and risk analysis to your situation is also a key ingredient. How do I prepare to stay in place or bug out? What should I take in preparing to leave my location? When should I leave my location? Where should I go? What if I bug out and part way to my destination my plan goes south? Will I likely be able to go home at some point? See, the list of questions pertaining to you is vast and some answers are not so easy.

So before we move forward, let us discuss what is bugging in and bugging out.

The “Bugging In” plan simply means staying put where you are at. “Bugging Out” means leaving your primary location for an alternate location. Bugging Out may be planned or else dictated by circumstances.

Your plan may be to stay put all along or else stay put until circumstances drive you from your home. You plan to stock, secure, and prepare your existing shelter for the long haul, or you keep flexibility to stay or go and pack your resources accordingly. Staying could be due to age, finances, disability, getting trapped by a rapid elevating threat, inability to plan and move resources, inability to move a large family, or an established neighborhood group and plan to ride out the threat. Or, your plan is to Bug Out because you have the transportation, resources and a designated alternate shelter to retreat away from circumstances at your primary location. These are just a few examples. You may or may not fall into this category.

Let’s assume you had a flexible plan that kept you at your Bug In location until the event escalates and then you plan to leave for your alternate location. So let’s conduct the “What If” checklist to give you a few things to think about. What if your plan all along was to Bug Out when the world ended as we know it? But…

…Your neighborhood is quarantined by the government due to a virus.

…Martial Law is declared and no movement is allowed.

…Some weather comes in that won’t let you move.

…Your bug out vehicle becomes disabled.

…Your chosen bug out route is temporarily impassable.

…You haven’t been able to reach all the individuals in your party and you didn’t have an adequate plan to get them to your bug out location without you.

…You or one of your parties are incapacitated and you cannot be moved.

…You or a loved one is kidnapped.

Now, you can’t Bug Out and must stay for the long haul even though the circumstances dictate bugging out. YOU must keep a strong mind and be able to adjust on the fly. You must immediately address: standoff and exterior security issue, food storage availability, water, availability and storage, sanitation, communications, securing the home, medical, interior defense – lethal vs non-lethal, and disposing of deceased personnel. These are just a few important items to think about.

So we completed the “What If” questionnaire for Bugging Out. Let’s now complete the “What If” questionnaire for Bugging In. What if your plan all along was to Bug In and ride out the circumstances? All of your resources and family are at the Bug In location with you. You have six months of food and water, and you know you will be okay because you are in a gated community. So, what if …

…the house burns and you no longer have a home? …a tornado/hurricane/flood/tsunami/earthquake wipes out your neighborhood? …a chemical spill happens nearby? …the government decides to order a mandatory evacuation? …a pandemic approaches your area and spreading quickly? …roving raiders and gangs start ravaging homes in your neighborhood?

…you run out of water and must go mobile to locate more?

…you can’t defend your home and you lose it to gang members?

…current danger level is escalating quicker than your ability to Bug Out?

If your plan all along was to Bug In and now you must Bug Out, you could be in grave trouble. Let’s discuss some issues on surviving outside the home in the urban environment. Historically most strife and civil unrest is sporadic and isolated to locations. Often events are staged at specific facilities and locations to demonstrate against a specific agenda. Panic and disorder will increase as “break down” in society continues. If you must be away from your home and/or you are out and get caught in the unrest, if possible, get away immediately. Try your best to blend in to your surroundings. Avoid displaying any expensive jewelry, clothing, automobiles, cell phones, or electronic devices. Always know the most direct route to a back exit when inside professional establishments.

When inside an establishment, always face towards the door to observe what is taking place. You should know two secondary routes to return in the event you must change your route. Never lead the rat to the cheese. Use social media for most current information, however, it is often raw information and could be misleading or incorrect. Do not post information that leads to your identification or location. Be alert to radicals and criminals putting “flash mobs” together quickly. Stay away from protests and uprisings to the best possible extent. It is statistically a fact, the larger the protest the lower the IQ of those protesting.

When teaching preparedness and the topic of bugging in, I am asked about bugging in at an apartment. YIKES!!! Let’s face it, it’s not a perfect world or like the post- apocalyptic books describe it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m a big reader and fan of many post-apocalyptic writers. They are dedicated to their creativity and several live the life they are putting on paper. I digress. We all can’t have the picture-perfect location. Just not possible for many reasons. We should do everything we can to help others make the best of their circumstances. So let’s take a few minutes to discuss bugging in at an apartment. Or, maybe I should say let’s talk about reasons to not Bug In at an apartment.

When you start developing plans to set up your apartment and building when the time comes, understanding defense-in-depth to the maximum is critical. You must have as much early warning as possible that a threat has entered your building, the stairwell and your floor. If possible, have a warning that you have a threat on your street or alley would be better. What you do with the information could save your life.

You should think about these things when deciding if you will bug in to your apartment or not. Multiplex facilities are harder to maintain direct control of circumstances. You have to take into consideration a post grid failure, the cities inability to provide services, loss of emergency services (fire, police and medical), secondary escape route in the event of a fire, your own medical needs, and this arrangement is difficult to obtain supplies once locked down.

Food and water is a major issue long term, but security is an issue daily, especially if you are alone. Security is a twenty-four-hour responsibility. The sooner you detect and identify a threat the higher probability you will survive. So let’s talk a few things about security and apartments.

You should determine three routes from the facility. That would be the stairwell, elevator, and exterior stairwell, if applicable. Know the most direct route to the roof and if you can move across roof tops building to building. This may come in handy to you, but also be a detriment if a threat figures it out and uses it. So, when you are monitoring for potential threats, you must consider every possible approach pattern.

1. Can you secure your stairwell doors to your floor if you need to do so? It is also critical you know a secondary escape route from your floor if you lock down the primarystairwell.

2. Identify and know every occupant in the building, if possible, but on your floor for certain. Know who will work together with you to protect the floor and occupants. Defense-in-depth is very important in your security pre-planning, and then again when you deploy your plan.

3. Do you own an escape ladder if you are located low enough to escape out the window?

4. What security devices will you deploy at the stairwell entry/exit points as early warning devices?

5. Does your plan include “black-out” conditions in hallways?

6. What is your communication plan and devices between floors? Do you have stairwell cameras?

The outcome of your situation may rest heavily on the effort you put forth to prevent it. How you survive rests squarely on you. Be positive. Think positive and stay a step ahead as much as possible. Your circumstances may be that there is no one around to help you out.

We will continue further with shelters in the next PENL edition #219. It is important to understand the pros and cons to staying or going when a good risk assessment is conducted and identified threats are applied to ones existing type of shelter and location.

Next

Gardening - If you are gardening you should be close to seeing fruits of your labor soon if not already. Here's a couple supporting documents you can consider using to help you out.

Here is a chart that is more specific to type and storage location and duration of the item.

How long will most vegetables last? You may have noticed how fast store purchased vegetables goes bad. Well, actually, sometimes they are already going bad when you unload your cart to purchase, and the bad parts are shaken up and you don't see them until at home.

The document below should help you decide what size container to use for gardening. It is a simple guide to help out.

Yes, for the nagging bugs buzzing around your head and citing your arms. Here's some suggestions to use natural plants to combat the bugs. Good luck.

Thats all Patriots...

Preparedness News -

1. From Dr. Alton - Doom and Bloom - Wildfire Smoke Safety | (doomandbloom.net) - Depending on your location, this smoke safety guidance is very applicable. Be safe.

2. From Bill White - Survivopedia - Continued Shortages as the Economy Goes South - Survivopedia - Washington broadcast things are great, but the proof is in the pudding and it's not good.

3. From Marie Hawthorne - Mind 4 Survival - Seed Saving: The Prepper's Primer - Mind4Survival - Good Information to consider.

4. From Michael Major - Ask a Prepper - 6 Dangerous Mistakes From “Doomsday Preppers” - Ask a Prepper - Isn't it all about perspective?

5. From Old World Garden Farms - Fertilizing Tomato Plants - How To Give Tomatoes Perfect Power! (oldworldgardenfarms.com) - Good information to help have and keep your tomato plants thriving.

Other News -

1. By Martin Armstrong - Armstrong Economics - Armstrong Economics - Do you understand Cloward Piven and how it works? Check this out and you will realize you are currently living through it. (Thanks Festus, for this submission.)

2. By Whitney Webb - Unlimited Hangout - CIA and Mossad-linked Surveillance System Quietly Being Installed Throughout the US (unlimitedhangout.com) - Smile!!!! Imagine life in a surveillance state. Why not, you already are and you aren't complaining yet. (Thanks Festus, for this submission.)

3. By Lee Smith - Shared post - Did Joe Biden Initiate the Plot Against Michael Flynn? (locals.com) - If true, would this surprise you?

4. By Daniel Horowitz - Conservative Review - Horowitz: Trump-appointed judge twists fundamental rights to enshrine drag shows in Tennessee - Conservative Review - Uh oh, I know what I will hear next. It's not his fault for what his appointment chooses to do.

5. By Christian Wade from Just the News - Mayor Adams wants to house migrants in churches, private homes | Just The News - Think this is crazy? Look at recent history and the Europeans who got kicked from their home to allow middle easterners flushed out during Arab Spring.

That's all my Patriot brothers and sisters.

Prayers - Please keep our great nation, our elected leaders, military and first responders in your thoughts and prayers. We pray for good health and wisdom. Please pray for our leadership to find answers and guidance to the problems facing our great nation. May your faith remain strong and answers to the unknown provided. God is good and may our prayers blanket and protect you and your circumstances. I pray for each, and every one of our Patriots.

The HFS family needs lots of prayers right now. We have several sisters and brothers in great need of uplifting. Prayers are needed in Central AL up to Huntsville, AL and our Patriot brother who remains with serious health issues. Prayers are still needed in northern GA, MD, KY, NC and TN. Please keep our Patriot family in western NC in your prayers for uplifting, strength, wisdom and direction. Please keep our Patriot sister, 90 years young, over in Huntsville, AL, in your thoughts and prayers. I know she and her family would appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Our Patriot sister in western NC also needs prayers for wisdom, guidance, and strength while she processes a path forward.

May we pray for all the blessings and things in life to be thankful about and continued hope for revival around the world. We must continually pray for the unsaved, our family and friends who live each day without the protection for eternal life and salvation.

As Patriots we must stay strong and never give up. Our home, community, and nation need us now more than ever. Stay focused on your local community and things that will impact you around the nation. Don't allow the events around you to create fear in your life. Build your own self-reliance and focus on faith and hope. Remember we are a blessed nation, and we must continue to be great people today and make a better tomorrow. Keep charging.

Blessings,

Bravo Echo Out,

Preparedness101@protonmail.com