Make your beds, we are in for the long haul

Sarah Hoyt posted a damned fine piece yesterday. One that I think Universe was waiting to drop in my lap. Please Go Read then come back.

NOW, a little background on me for those that are new here. I have been and done a lot of things over the years. I have even been accused of fabrication of my past because I have done so much. I was in the Marines, 88-92. I did get booted out with an Other than Honorable Discharge because I refused Movement orders. Those Orders were to move on Los Angeles during the Rodney King Riots. I did go to Kuwait prior to that, and even said while on float back to CONUS; “We’ll be back there in a decade or so.” I have made prophetic statements like that on occasion and never realized when I said it, how true it would be. Like when BUSH 1 was running. I said that “If that man gets elected, we will be in a war before he leaves office.” And to show how much my own prophecies mean to me: I joined the Marines shortly thereafter. Go figure.

I did a decade in the entertainment industry as a Touring Audio Tech, FOH./Mon engineer, Stage manager, Production manager, etc. I started that by mixing sound in local clubs, and began Promotion for one club in particular. That is how I gained the attention of the company that hired me for the touring stuff. I was good at it, but then when someone finds a job that they absolutely LOVE, they tend to be damned good at it. I miss it more than I can express in words, BUT, I can’t go back to it as the love/job/Decibels did me damage that I can’t recoup. I have an 85% hearing loss in my right ear, and almost 60% in my left. I am damned near deaf. I do read lips to some extent and part of why I don’t get along real well with some of the locals here.

Before and kinda during my foray into Sound, I was a full-time Mechanic (even ASE certified ), I did work for almost 2 years as a thirdshift Short order cook at a national chain I leave unmentioned. I was an Swing manager at a Pizzahut right about the time that YUM bought them and KFC and The Bell. I did a stint as a Counter Jockey at a convienence store. Etc etc etc ad nauseum

Worked in a Hospital as Computer nerd. Lost a job in 2008 thanks to the mortgage meltdown, since the company I was attached to was, TA-DA!!!! a Mortgage company. Then I was working for my Landlords partner as a Carpenter re-habbing old buildings into apartments.

I have only ONCE collected on Unemployment, and that was after reading a book called ‘Starving the Monkeys’. I met the author of that Book in PA at a patcom. At that time, I realized I had come full Circle. That Author had been in a plane overhead while I was on the ground playing Chase the RedGuard across the Kuwaiti desert, He was one of those directing troop movement and coordinating artillery etc so we didn’t have ‘blue on blue’ accidents.

Times like that I realize just how small this world is. (And thats just one small example I can tell you about)

But lets get back to that article by Sarah. Sarah grew up in Portugal before and during the transition into the EU. I like her description of Portugal at the time. Like a “family quarrel with borders.” She lived in a National Socialist country as it transistioned into an International Socialist country. She knows what she is talking about with the Upcoming troubles.

Her article is about “Making your bed”. Why that phrase? Because even though we are about to see fecal matter scattered by the rotary air mover, LIFE WILL GO ON!!!!. We will have a different set of Priorities shoved upon us, but those new priorties do NOT make our current ones null and void. We still have to eat, We have family that needs taken care of, and we must carry on LIVING. And just like in an active war: the war is 24/7. but the combat is not. There may be days where the fighting never seems to stop, and then there will days, even weeks where there might only be the occasional potshot, or IED, or something. There will be downtime to LIVE. I do speak from experience here even if my time in the sandbox was less than a full week. We did a lot of setting up, taking down and hauling ass to our next POS, but when it came to actual shooting time, I can tell you that the unit I was in could measure that time as less than 15 minutes, TOTAL. We probably expended 100000 rounds in that short time and it FELT like hours, but when the dust settled, we broke through and hit our next POS less than an hour had passed and I know we drove for fourty minutes to set up and shoot our big guns BACK across the border and totally fuck the guys we had just mixed with.

Note the amount of ammo expended. There were 80 of us in that unit and not everyone was shooting. But I know for a fact that I went through 5 magazines and 2 frags in less than 5 minutes. I didn’t even realize it until we were back in the trucks and moving that I was damned near empty on ammo. And I never put it on burst. That was all single shots at targets that were shooting back. One hundred fifty rounds and 4 pounds of bad attitude down range in less time then most people take to shit. (this why when a guy tells me he as 500 rounds of ammo ready to rock and roll, I smile and think, ‘You have five minutes to get your shit straight and hope you get them all.’. Ammo is heavy, and you can only carry so much, and unless you have a support unit backing you up, that seven mag load out is enough to either get the party started or get you to a breather before the next round of fun. It will not carry you through a running gun battle.)

But that is the side of the combatant whose only “Job” is to fight. Lets open the role of a Freedomista with a family behind enemy lines. I can guarantee you that the guys and gals that spent time in Afgahnistan can tell you, goat herders are family people, and feirce fighters. When the Taliban or whoever was fighting the USSR back in the 80s, their most common weapon was either a Mosin-Nagant, or one of those crazy ass long barreled Black powder guns their old-timers swear by. The upgrade to the Kalishnilkovs was around about that time, and those AK's are the real deal with full auto select fire. Some are the older 762 and some are the newer 5.45 (AK74) But I digress.

These people LIVE there. They have family to feed, needs beyond just getting up and shooting the enemy, things that need done, and desires for stuff that require some form of lucre to pay for. LIFE GOES ON. (Gee, I think I've written that a time or two here.)

And it doesn't happen fast. When it does happen, it's usually over almost as fast as it started, but there are so many LARGE gaps between those points, you may not even realize that a war is going on most of the time.

Kinda like now. Most of the population does not realize that there is an active war taking place on the shores of this great land. Oh, they see the riots from the summer, and the media tells them “these are mostly peaceful protestors”, and get away with it because the tools they are using are similar to what are used in riots. BUT, Rioters don't have back support, medicos, radio comms, and mission statements. These MPP's have all of that AND are financed HEAVILY by some fairly high up corporate types. (I have been over the difference here a time or two, do try to keep up.) Wars are sometimes fought at the Political stage nearly as much as they are at the Grab and Hold phase in combat. We are seeing that currently with the courts, the fraud, the media blackouts and manipulations. The outright censorship of dissent that is happening because 'its a private organization' and not a GA that has to abide by that pesky First Amendment thingie.

If you haven’t been able to get your head around that fact yet, WORK ON IT NOW!!!! the rest of this is for after you stop denying the current situation.

SO how do you “Make your bed” in a war zone? Preppers will have figured this out, those new to the game are in need of an education. The biggest thing is to determine you ABSOLUTE needs. Food, shelter, health and hygiene, You have to be able to supply those things to you and yours. SO, How do you make sure that those thingsare in your reach. Is it a money thing? Then how will you make sure that the money flows, even when nothing else is? OR, is there a work around? Can you grow your food, even to the point of raising some yard birds? Or are you in one of those areas where a yard bird is the give-away meal for whomever happens to be walking by? What about long term storage stuff. Currently, you still have access to readily storable food options at reasonable prices. Spend an extra $20/wk on can food stuff. Not just 'meal' types (Beefstews, soups etc) but core resource type stuff. Can tomatoes, can potatoes Canned meats (and not just Spam) don't forget the dry stuff too, dry pastas, egg noodles in dry form. Get some vacuum canisters for storing things like flour, oats, rice and cornmeal. LEARN TO MAKE REAL FOOD STUFF that can be combined with other things to make delicious hot meals for a multitude. Learn the idea of the eternal pot cooking. Where you just keep adding stuff in as the level drops. Yeah, eventually it gets to the total mush stage, but all the nutrients and vitamins are still in there and when you are hungry,,,,

Healrh and Hygiene: if ya have a trick knee, a bum shoulder, or crap-nasty teerh, get that shit fixed NOW!!! I can tell you with certainty, an oral infection gets nasty FAST. I was forced to get dentures exactly one year ago because one little cavity blew up my damned face and destroyed my gumline. If/when the socialist get the power,,, well ask a Brit how easy it is to get normal elective work done with their healthcare system. Thats what the BidenHARRISpelousy’s want for us little people, here. Get your body fixed now while its still available to you.

Skills. I think I illiterated that I have a multitude of skills. Not just those documented here in my blog pages. I'm not sure how many people are going to need a Kayak made over the next few years, decade,,, But if they do, I got 'em covered. Of course, that skill isn't limited to Kayaks, but other form of boating craft as needed. And I have several options of building, dependeding on need. AND I am one of those that find the oddest combination of solutions to 'make it right'. I am a mechanic, welder, carpenter,electrician, jackleg blacksmith, foundryman, sandcrab, machinist, etc etc etc. What I don't know, I learn. What I can't learn (for whatever reason, ) I find someone that knows it. (and learn from them.)

THAT is what will get me through the times ahead. I may even come out better for it, but I guess time will tell. The point is, we all have skills, some more that others. Some skills may seem ‘useless’ in the here and now, but might be the most beneficial of all when things get hairy. Like Sarah Hoyt. She claims her only skill is ‘telling stories’ . THAT to me is one of the most important things when things get rough. Like when I was in Entertainment, we had a saying that its a recession proof industry because that is when people need Entertainment the most. Same goes with stories. People need that escape, if only for a few minutes. Something to ease the pain of living in rough times and to let the mind chew on something pleasant as the lights fade and sleep descends.

A story teller is also a teacher. You can entertain and TEACH a valuable lesson at the same time (Think Aesops fables for one. Great ethics are taught the same way)

Maybe you can sew a straight line, by machine or by hand, but its straight and durable. I know for a fact that I can mend some shit up, but when it comes to making something by sewing, well, I farm those things out. Thats a skill that is going to be needed in large portions in the coming decade.

And those are just touchstones to get you thinking about your own skills. We all have something (unless you are a career politician) to bring to the table for the good of ourselves, our family and our community.

Get busy on you NOW and be a leader by example to those around you.