That’s right, after several years of looking for the right job east of the Mississippi; I’ve finally found it and am moving from the DC area! We are moving at the beginning of May and if I never see DC again that’d be just fine.
Two major things will be accomplished with this move. First, the probably impossible plan of bugging out 1,300 miles or more won’t be necessary WTSHTF because we’ll be well within a tank of gas of my parent’s farm in Nebraska (which is our family “retreat”). Even if we had to go on foot, the population where we’ll be is a small fraction of what we’d have on the east coast, and the terrain is much less challenging. Second, although we won’t actually be in Nebraska, we’ll be close enough to get home much more often to work on survival projects, go shooting, etc, so I’ll move from theory to practice in many areas.
Getting ready to move is why I haven’t been able to blog as much.
I’ve moved overseas and cross-country many times in my career and such moves often are an opportunity to make a fresh start. For example:
- While in the DC area I probably spoke survivalism/preparedness to one or two people I shouldn’t have, and aside from that am known in my office as a “gun nut.” So one goal is to seriously tighten up my operational security, or OPSEC. I probably will not discuss preparedness co-workers once I move, and will discuss firearms little if at all.
- Related to OPSEC, in the past two years I’ve purchased a substantial amount of survival items including all types of ammunition and firearms supplies, miscellaneous gear, storage food, silver, etc. Most of it was purchased online, leaving an easy to read trail of what caliber of weapons I have and in many cases what type (revealed by items purchases, like a Mini-14 scope mount). The UPS delivery man who goes to my parent’s house even commented on all the ammo he delivered in a short period of time last year. In the future I’ll try to make bulk ammo/gear purchases with cash at gun shows, or little by little at local shops, also with cash. Can’t do anything about the trail I’ve already left, but I can stop highlighting it.
- Following the move I’m not sure how much or even if I will continue to blog. My guess is that blogs like mine are not monitored now, or only loosely. That could change in the future and I may not want to have my thoughts and plans so nicely cataloged for those who might later be more interested. This includes big brother, or even if someone were to discover who or where I am. I’m on the fence abut this for now.
But for now it’s back to getting ready to move this family of five half way across the country! Moving is a always a hassle in general, moving three young children only compounds that, especially with the drive, but knowing we’ll no longer be trapped on the east coast if/when a major problem arises is priceless.
How very exciting for you and your family. Enjoy the peace of mind that moving out of DC will give you. We’ll miss your blog if you stop writing but completely understand the reasoning.
Congrats, That is awesome!
According to the fiction, it seems like the evil NATO peace keepers always make a bee- line to that neck of the woods! Of courese on the plus side you will have many “Patriots” with jellied gasoline bombs defending you.
Slightly more seriously, D.C., is always either target one, or two for everything. Out west, all you have is some issues with missle silos.
Talking about guns at work varies alot with where you work. I never used to talk much about guns, but where I work now there are all sorts of ex-Vet gun fanatics, so it is the company norm. It kind of goes without saying these days that the right leaning gun crowd also has at least an interest in prepping for Katrina-like events.
Congrats on the move. A couple of thoughts:
A great part of the whole “prepping lifestyle” is bringing others along, and teaching them how to fend for themselves. I talk about what I do, but NEVER disclose how much or where it’s kept. It’s Discussion vs Disclosure.
I only buy things online where that is the only reasonable place to buy it. For instance, I want some Quick Release scope mounts. Not a single gun shop in my area carries them (most never even heard of them). Ammo and most parts are always purchased in person with cash.
You ARE likely being read by some arm of the .gov. I have the very basic Sitemeter on my blog, and I see I get daily visits from the Pentagon. I recently started getting visits from something like the Army Cyber Intelligence blah, blah blah Department. Partially because of this, I’m in the process of wrapping up my blog. The other reason is I genuinely think we’re getting close to tipping over the edge, and I need to focus my time and energy more productively.
Good luck with the move!
Gratz my friend and safe travels along with a speedy settling in!!!
Congrats on this giant leap in preparedness. I’ll admit I will miss your blog. You always have well thought out articles with good info.
If you have time, I’m wondering if you could give us any tips on finding new employment out west. For us govt workers stuck in the DC area, there appear to be cut-backs and hiring freezes nation-wide, so any move would require a pay cut, or giving up the civil-service retirement quest.
Happy trails…
SG
Congrats on the move! As someone in your ‘neck of the woods’, also with 3 little ones, I can’t wait to ‘get west’ myself, soon! I’ve always planned to hunker-down in situ, vice bugging out (as it is fraught with too many risks and insurmountable challenges), but living in Virginia, that realization didn’t help me sleep any better at night.
Once your move is complete, I’d love to read your thoughts on managing the transport of more sensitive inventory.
Anything associated with: A) Farming, or B) Nebraska, has to be both wonderful, and beautiful.
Best of Luck, to you and your Family.
Godspeed.
@Suburban Survivalist – On the contrary, if you could check the deep statistics of your website, it is combed by DHS, Army Intelligence at Fort Huachuca, Navy Intelligence, and many more. I check my statistics weekly, and they are constantly scraping keywords. My stats program gives me the IP address and the company where it came from, so that is how I know. It is disconcerting, and I have not blogged much since I found out about it, and had my terms of service completely changed on my blog to reflect disaster preparedness and no anti-government sentiment… You may want to do the same. To this end, I have stopped blogging as much. The site continues to be scraped for keywords, and there is nothing we can do about it unless we take our respective blogs offline. Another case was that JWR’s Blog (survivalblog.com) had been infiltrated by the FBI (I think it was) and they installed a tracking code to track users. It took JWR’s team months to find it. Here is the post: http://goo.gl/qH3Qe
In addition, I tell no one I work with that I prep. OpSec at work is important to me. Not to mention in NJ, half the people think you are nuts if you are the “gun guy” in the office like I am, as well…
To that end, CONGRATULATIONS on the move and the job! I hope everything works out. I am a bit envious, and would love to hear about the progress when you get there, if you blog about it… Or privately, you have my email…
All,
Thanks for the kind wishes. The move was a pain in the ass but that part is over and it is awesome to be out of DC.
Russell,
Yes, I am concerted about the likely – according to a body of survival fiction – invasion of NATO and/or UN troops, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I am sure the resistance will find a place for me.
Chief,
Good points on buying certain items.
Chief and Jack,
I’m not too concerned about .gov sniffing around since I have never advocated anything even borderline illegal, and in fact urge folks to not take a chance (e.g. with firearms laws – just move to a freer state, etc.). What I would be concerned with is if they came looking to confiscate stockpiled goods, especially guns and ammo. What’s said is said and is probably part of some permanent record now.
SG in VA,
I may keep blogging, just too busy with post-move stuff and house hunting right now. Nothing decided either way right now. No secret for the job finding, just hit USAJobs every day for a couple years, constantly tweak the resume, and targeted applications. I had no inside connections and had to play the numbers game. Eventually an opening looking for my particular specialized skill set came around and here I am.
Congrats and well wishes. Hope it goes well.
Have to say…. you and ALL sites even remotely like yours are monitored, to some degree. Everything online is, trust me. I mean *everything. You being in the industry you are I’m sure you have some understanding of this.
You fall off the planet or what? Post.