Dave is former Army, a moderately advanced prepper, probably in his 50s, and had just been hired on with FEMA the morning of the EMP event. So like many of the main characters in survival fiction, Dave is leaps and bounds ahead of the general public.

Unlike some depictions of FEMA employees as spineless, remora-like commies, Dave’s new boss, Jack, “was a grizzled old First Sergeant from the Vietnam era that had retired from the Army.” The boss, a few other employees and Dave were in a bar celebrating his new job – fairly carefree drinking is a theme throughout the book.

The power goes out and the FEMA guys quickly figure out what happened. As FEMA has no real plan to deal with such an event, Dave sets off for home on foot with a younger co-worker who needs to travel most of the same route.

Feeling naked without a pack and preparing for a long hike on foot, one of the first things Dave does is steal a drop cloth and some rope from an unattended painters van to make a horseshoe pack (complete with illustration). This is the first of a good bit of looting framed as scavenging that takes place throughout the story, enough to render Rawles catatonic.

This is a good place to note that the author picks out tips and little tricks that might be useful and turns them into a teaching moment with instructions. Some of these are useful, a few are strange, such as very detailed instructions later in the book for starting a vintage tractor that was unaffected by the EMP.

Since this is in the first few days of the event, things aren’t as dangerous as they will become, and they take the highway towards their destination. The do a good job of looting vehicles along the way, end up meeting some really nice people and getting slightly liquored up.

When they make it to the rural destination of the younger co-worker, again everyone is nice, everyone is pitching in to prepare, there is a fantastic BBQ, Dave make a deal to use an antique tractor to drive the rest of the way to his home, and there is a good bit of drinking.

Dave makes it home to his mother and makes contact with his ex-girlfriend, also a prepper. They pull in a few close friends and work on stockpiling as much food and supplies as they can, and they do pretty well. Although it’s now been many days since the EMP, they run into no real security issues, and there is some drinking going on.

They soon decide to leave their city before things fall apart and get dangerous. Using the tractor to pull a trailer with their supplies, they make their way to a secluded lake where they have a friend.

Once at the lake, they find most cabins deserted and commence systematic looting. They talk about security and firearms, meet some really nice people, had a feast of sorts, do some drinking, etc.

I don’t harp too much on the grammatical and spelling errors (glass houses and all) found in most recent self-published survival fiction, but the Kindle version had some annoying formatting issues that need to be dealt with.

And if you can’t tell, I fault the author with making the apocalypse sound sort of like a good time where you’ll meet a lot of nice folks and get comfortably numbed with booze, sounds like a party. Aside from sounding like a feel-good party, in a real situation like this if you start looting like Dave and crew were, you’d probably get shot fairly quickly.

Also, this book is sold as, “the complete Prepper Trilogy Containing Books 1-3,” which may be used to justify the $7.25 price tag, but seemed about as long as an average book.

Overall this is a fair read, but I’d borrow if from the library rather than buy.

I bring up this topic because my brothers and I will probably have to store a large quantity of ammo in a barn for a few years (basically, Mom wants the guest bedroom closet back). Nebraska summers can be fairly brutal, and the inside of a barn can get very hot. Will our ammo be okay (will be in ammo cans)?

The generally very informative Ammo Oracle at AR15.com has this to say:

The three primary killers of ammo are heat, moisture, and chemicals. Excessive heat will break down both the powder and the primer compound over time, causing erratic ignition and velocities.

Military guidance on how much heat is too much heat doesn’t offer much. Department of the Army Pamphlet 700–16, THE ARMY AMMUNITION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM for Logistics, does not list any temperatures, noting only that:

In general, ammunition must be protected from moisture and should be protected from temperature extremes when feasible.

Department of the Army Pamphlet 385-65, Ammunition and Explosives Safety Standards, says in Chapter 2, Field Storage of Ammunition:

When standard magazines are not available, buildings used for AE [ammunition and explosives] storage must afford protection against moisture and excessive changes in temperature and have means for adequate ventilation. . . The AE containing explosives or combustibles (such as, black powder, tracer composition, or pyrotechnic mixtures) that deteriorate rapidly in damp or high temperature environments should be stored under the best cover available.

And MARINE CORPS ORDER P8020.10A, MARINE CORPS AMMUNITION MANAGEMENT AND EXPLOSIVES SAFETY POLICY MANUAL, does not refer to heat or temperature at all, in regard to ammo storage.

Anecdotally, some say heat is bad, others note they’ve used ammo stored in very hot bunkers with no issues. Various old and/or surplus ammo from the 1950s or earlier not stored in cool conditions that still functions, and hand-loaded .223 ammo in a VA attic for ~25 years, working fine.

You can find dozens of forums or blogs that say one other, but I haven’t seen any actual studies. From a common sense perspective, seems like heat might affect ammo since it affects food and many other chemical compounds. But with a little more information, a lot of real-world examples seem to point to heat not mattering much, which might alter what passes for common sense.

From my personal experience (more anecdotal evidence), I’ve seen Conex boxes in the desert storing U.S./NATO ammo, and have personally used ammo stored in hot humid conditions for long-term with no problems. I’m talking shot shells (some old enough to be some sort of cardboard or thick paper rather than plastic), .22S/L/LR, various old surplus calibers (some with slight corrosion), etc. not in ammo boxes or with AC during the summer, for decades.

I’m leaning towards heat doesn’t matter as long as humidity is controlled.

What say you?

I looked at REI and similar places for good hiking boots, but prefer military boots. Soon the relatively new USMC RAT (rugged all-terrain) boot caught my attention. The RAT boot is set to become a USMC standard issue item in 2012.

Made with a couple types of leather and 1000 denier nylon, and Vibram soles, polyurethane coated leather over toe and heel, they seemed like a winner. There are two versions, hot (with drain/vent holes on the side) and temperate (waterproof, with Gortex). Sound awesome.

The problem is price, from most stores for about $300. They are made by both Bates and Danner. However the Bates RAT boots were recalled after they began falling apart in Afghanistan. Danner is now the sole supplier.

That’s why you can find a lot of Bates RAT boots relatively cheap online, when the used to go for $300. These boots may or may not be part of the rejected/defective lots. For example, The Sportsman’s Guide (TSG) has the Bates version (hot weather) for $100, cheap due to “slight blemishes.” Or are they actually the defective boots? Seemed too cheap, but see below…

I eventually found a pair of Danner temperate RAT boots in my size on eBay for about $200 (eBay return policies can be iffy so you need to know your size for sure). The finish on the boots is outstanding, no break-in was required. The only problem is that they are too hot if it’s over 50 degrees with any sort of activity, like walking. I found out that these are also referred to as “cold” weather boots and Marines in Afghanistan also said they were too hot.

So I mistakenly thought “temperate” would be suitable for most weather in the U.S. Sadly not the case, walking a bit when it’s 60 degrees out had me ready to get the boots off soon. No doubt they’ll be great for winter, but it’s been an expensive lesson.

During my search I had contacted Bates to see if the boots for sale at TSG were from the defective lots. Didn’t hear back until after I’d purchased my Danner boots; they are NOT part of the defective lots.

I said screw it and bought another pair from TSG. Since I’ a club member there, got them for just under $90. Combined shipping with a bunch of other stuff.

The Danner RAT boots are superior in fit/finish to the Bates boots. The leather/nylon materials are a little bit nicer and better cut. The Danner boot went on with zero break-in while the Bates were a little stiffer, though I don’t think they’d cause blisters if I did a 20 mile walk from day one. The Vibram soles are exactly the same. Stitching on both seems to be excellent. The coyote brown is a bit darker on the Bates version, which I prefer. Laces on both are identical.

Overall I would say the Danner RAT boots are a bit better, if the Danner is a $300 boot, the Bates is a $200 boot, IMO. But for around $100 the Bates version from TSG is an excellent deal. I noted some really slight blemishes on the pair I got, nothing I’m concerned with at all. If you’re within a couple years of needing a new boot, I suggest getting some from TSG at they low prices while they still have them.

Now with two pairs to alternate, one for winter and one for the rest of the year, I expect these boots to last me 15-20 years at current levels of use. Probably a lot less if TEOTWAWKI kicks off as they’ll get more use, but we’ll cross that road when we get there. Would not want to get caught in something like that with only my old boots on hand.

UPDATE: Wellco also makes them, right now for sale at $140. I have no idea about the quality of these boots.

Is it enough? No, it’s never enough. But if TEOTWAWKI happened on or after January 01, 2012, wouldn’t feel like we got caught with our pants down, at least considering firearms, ammo, and related gear.

For longer range rifles (~200+ yards), we have several more Mosin Nagant rifles than we can probably use – I expect others would show up and need them. Several of those rifles already have bent bolts, will soon have JMeck scope mounts, and will then be scoped with Nikon or Simons scopes.

We chose the Mini-14 Tactical (and here) for our carbine (300 yards max, closer preferred). While there are not as many customization options for the Mini-14 as for the more popular AR-15 variants, we determined that for a survival situation in which spare parts or a choice in ammo might not be available, the more rugged piston operated and sufficiently accurate Ruger will do just fine.

Recently Nutnfancy spoke about the importance of being, “Tactically Squared Away,” and Ryan wrote about having enough ammo of sufficient caliber. I agree with both. We’ve been slowly putting away thousands of rounds in all calibers/gauges, and the slings, scopes, mag pouches, dump pouches, etc. that are needed. We’ll be using MOLLE II FLC vests to attach needed pouches and other items (these days very cheap, shop eBay).

At one point I thought it best to get rid of (for us) odd caliber weapons so that we don’t need to worry about the logistics of spare parts and ammo for them long-term. But I eventually decided that unless obsolete, having a variety of non-standard caliber weapons – or a way to use ammo for them – is fine. For example, we don’t have a .38 special or .357 magnum, but an adapter will allow us to shoot that ammo from a 12 gauge shotgun. Adapters are available in a varied of calibers and gauges.

For guns, ammo, and related gear we’re there – but will keep adding, especially more magazines and ammo. Can never have enough. But the new priority for 2012 will be food stockpiling and growing…

The main character, Nate Williams, is a veteran with combat arms experience and has a prepper attitude, but with no stockpiles. He lives in rural Florida on a bit of land with a milk cow and chickens, so has enough food for him and his son to survive.

However, as civilization collapses, someone with a bone to pick with Nate – a felon and a few of his buddies – causes problems for Nat and his son. There is an unrealistic scene here where Nate discovers this, but overall I think the premise of being vulnerable on a farm is valid.

Nate has a friend who is a hardcore survivalist, but who was recalled as a National Guard member so left his preps to the Williams family. This is also slightly unrealistic, but conveniently leave Nat and his son a place to seek refuge and this is stockpiled with food.

A stranger who first steals some of their eggs but later assists the Williams when the felons attacks is also incorporated into the story line. This strangers background and a coincidence in knowing each others families is a also bit implausible.

Overall this a good read and is recommended. The few drawbacks are not show stoppers and I like the fact that the problem of facing this situation with children is addressed.

Note: See Reflexiones Finales for upcoming reviews on this book.

Patriots was more of a survival manual in novel format. Survivors is a novel that does not needlessly duplicate much of the information on selecting group members, firearms, vehicles, and storing/preparing food and access to water, etc. It is probably also meant to address some of the criticisms of the first novel (characters vastly more prepared than most readers and mostly no children involved, making it less than ideal for most preppers).

Overall Survivors is not as good as Patriots, and this is accurately reflected in many Amazon reviews. While the editing was better, the story is a bit disjointed, seems rushed in the end, and still doesn’t really address the realistic issues most survivalists/preppers will face.

I read the Kindle version, which at $10.99 is a bit of a rip-off, unlike the Patriots softcover bought at the same price. If you’re a apocalyptic fiction junkie like me you’ll buy it anyway, but most would be better suited to get if from the local library. For the price point it needs to be longer with more character development, and to address the weak points.

Awhile back on Survival Blog, Rawles noted he’d expand on the characters Ian and Blanca. This was a waste of 10% of the book (from about 50-60% on Kindle). It’s the story of their courtship a history lesson in USAF ISR platforms with very little value added for a prepper. I skimmed/skipped past most if this useless information.

Two of the main characters are brothers, Lars and Andy. Lars is an OEF vet who lost an arm and eye, and lives on the family farm. Andy was in Germany (recently returned from Afghanistan) when TSHTF.

While Lars and Andy are preppers and begin preparing for a collapse – the even have shortwave radio transmitters for this purpose – when the collapse hits Lars doesn’t have any pistols or ammo put away. This is unrealistic, most will have firearms and ammo before a shortwave transceiver. Lars and his wife have a child, but the issues of prepping/surviving with a child are not discussed at all.

Andy’s story is a bit more interesting. He has to get from Germany to his fiancée, she is staying with his brother Lar’s family in New Mexico. I won’t go into the details, but he finds passage on a boat and then has to go cross country. To me, this was the most interesting aspect of the book and could have used some more development.

Overall this book is fair. As noted above, the Patriots is better and this one should be read at the library rather than buying one.

Note: See Reflexiones Finales for upcoming reviews on this book.

This story is a bit unique in that it has two waves of events that alone could take down our society. The first is an apparently well-planned attack on the trucking infrastructure – terrorists – it’s not known if they’re domestic or foreign – plant bombs on hundreds of long-haul trucks and in their cargos, causing a lock up of that system that eventually crashes the economy.

My guess is most people don’t realize how vulnerable our trucking and rail transit infrastructure is, and how much we rely on it since the advent of just-in-time delivery awhile back. IMO, when any competent bad guys figure this out, we’re screwed.

The terrorist induced collapse was followed by some sort of global pandemic that finished off the job of collapsing civilization.

Albert, a man with no family ties, had been a frugal trucker who saved for 20 years, then retired to his rural Indiana farm where he had live stock, small scale farming, generators with lots of fuel, etc. He also constructed a hidden bunker on his property, and stockpiled weapons, ammo, etc. He had no family, wife, children, etc.

His perfect life ended when the terrorist induced shortages caused FEMA, backed up by local officials, to devise a plan to confiscate from local farmers their food stores. Without getting into too much detail, Albert ended up killing the FEMA reps and local authorities that came to take his food, and became a guerilla fighter. Then the global pandemic came and everything got even worse.

There are a lot of good preps detailed in this book. It’s also one of the best written self-published books out there.

However, the tinfoil hat conspiracies are in full force, complete with UN forces terrorizing Americans, raping and killing at will to restore law and order for the government. There is a long, somewhat bizarre rant on this topic. There is also a lot of racist talk/sentiment that detracts from the book.

A major flaw is the UN occupation (with U.S. government permission) – it doesn’t make sense, there is no logical reason or goal. It’s unlikely UN nations would be able to field troops after a financial collapse (that would affect the global economy) and a global pandemic, especially considering the U.S. funds most of the UN.

Good writing and interesting scenario, but I’m not comfortable with the racist rants and UN conspiracy theories. If you can ignore those aspects, it’s a good read.

Well described is the likely slow, useless approach the government would take as the healthcare systems is overwhelmed, the slow breakdown of services as deliveries stop, the riots that would take place, suburban neighbors bugging out, the influx of refugees who drift in to take up those residences, and neighborhood tensions over food supplies. I won’t go into too much detail here, see the description and reviews at Amazon.

Alex makes several mistakes which I assume are to server readers of examples of common pitfalls. He has a bit of a temper and shoots his mouth off. Example; let himself get into an argument with a neighborhood hag wanting to collectivize and redistribute food supplies, leaving a lot with the impression he had ample supplies. He doesn’t set up security very well (not realistic for a Marine). Example; they all sleep through most nights, no guard set.

This book is well reviewed at Reflexiones Finales and Bison Survival Blog. Both describe Alex as a “yuppie” prepper, which is apt.

Alex is also politically an extremely unlikely representation of a former USMC officer; a left-leaning, Fox News bashing, vegetarian. It’s not impossible, there are some, but as someone who’s been associated with the military in one way or the other for over two decades, I can tell you it’s rare, particularly among officers.

Problem areas. I read the Kindle edition, which has a few editing errors (even after it was re-edited), but I’m generally not too picky about that. The dialogue between family members was flat and mostly irritating, and it was difficult to tell who was speaking at time as there was no real change in style. The biggest flaw of this book is that it took only a few months for the government to resurrect itself and start services flowing. I find this highly unlikely for today’s overly complex and interdependent system-of-systems that make up our civilizations.

Overall recommended. A plausible scenario and there are areas (preps and mistakes) to learn from. If you have some left-leaning family or friends you’d like to convince about prepping, maybe this a good book to give them; the main character has similar views as them, but is prepared with food and fuel stocks, alternative energy, has and knows how to use guns.

This is a slow economic collapse scenario where the main character, Gardener, an IT specialist, becomes unemployed and learns to navigate the new reality of a declining America. Gardner’s socioeconomic position slowly worsens and he’s forced to life off the grid for awhile. He eventually hooks up with an Asian organization working IT issues and is accepted into that “clan.”

During this time he makes his first kill (a pedophile), and is assigned a mentor to teach him the ropes of self-defense and security (Max). He also hooks up with a young, Asian female leader of the clan (Night), and makes friends with a young Asian gamer who is part of the clan (Ninja). It’s nitty-gritty and mostly realistic. He eventually becomes a baddass killing machine.

The second volume was recently re-released as American Apocalypse: Wastelands (formerly just volume II). First thing I noticed was a VAST improvement in the editing, much improved the reading experience. In this volume, Gardener grew into more of a killer/survivor, and the slow collapse turned into a fast collapse.

It’s in Wastelands that the problem with this series comes about. Let’s look at the description of the book on Amazon:

Starvation, violence and death run rampant in the remains of our once-proud country. Federal troops, commissioned to protect the homeland, have turned their guns on the lawless population. Citizens find shelter in government safe zones while ruthless gangs enforce their will outside the camps.

When the military transforms Washington’s life-saving food bank into a gun collection center in order to disarm all but the soldiers themselves, riots ensue. Weary of the militaristic government’s intent to render the citizens defenseless, America’s remaining patriots begin a mass migration out of the camps in search of refuge.

American Apocalypse Wastelands tells of a young man discovering the role he must play to defend himself, others and his country as everything around him crumbles.

Anything about a Norse god (Freya) being introduced into the series? No? That’s odd, because at the end of the book that’s exactly what happens – a supernatural element is introduced.

The very last page of Wastelands has this note from the Author (abbreviated):

The introduction of Freya, a supernatural being, may have confused or even bothered some readers… This isn’t and was never intended to be a survival book…

The author also claims to be writing about “possible scenarios” we may encounter in such a collapse.

Bullshit. It’s his series, he can write what he wants. But none of the book descriptions (on Amazon) say anything about the supernatural element, it’s borderline false advertising. This is Fantasy, not survival or apocalypse fiction. You need to know that before starting.

The third and fourth books are okay. I had to skip about 25% of the text dealing with supernatural elements and was very annoyed by that.

The good of this series; it makes you contemplate what a slow collapse might look like and how you might fit in. It’s not pretty. You will get an idea of what hordes of hungry and desperate people might do – rampant looting, murder, rape, and cannibalism (a lot of that). It will put you in the prepping mindset and make you want to move from overpopulated areas.

The bad has already been noted – the bait and switch with Fantasy for a survival book. The books are also not quite full-length, so you’re essentially paying hardcover price for a longish regular book, it’s just broken up into four smaller books with smaller prices.

My recommendation; if you can live the a couple of Norse gods (Freya and Thor) doing magical stuff, go for it, it’s 75% good. If not, pass, there are a lot of other survival/apocalyptic fiction books out there without the supernatural baggage.