Posts Tagged american survival guide
Survival Magazines
If someone asked you to list your favorite Survival Magazines, what would you say? When my buddies and I where in high school – back in the 1980s – we would read any magazine, or mail order catalog we could get our hands on. This was back before the internet – so you had to either go to the store and actually buy a magazine, or send off an order form and wait 2 – 6 weeks for the first issue to come in. Over the past 25 years, only a hand full of magazines have risen to the top and deserve a special mention.
5 & 6. Field and Stream and Outdoor Life – both magazines offer a wide variety of hunting and outdoors information. Since both magazines offer such a wide variety of information, its difficult to say that one is better then the other. Where else can you find information about fly fishing on 1 page, and wilderness survival on the next page.
4. Backpacker – offers quality gear reviews mixed with a touch of conservation. What other magazine can you read about -20 degree sleeping bags, and about timber companies cutting virgin forest in the same issue?
3. Soldier of Fortune – no other magazine is going to cut to the heart of military history, political and military issues like Soldier of Fortune magazine. Back in the 1980s when Russia was at war in Afghanistan, and I was only a teenager, I remember reading about fund raisers to help the Afghan freedom fighters.
2. Farmers Almanac – its going to be difficult to find a more reliable source of inforamtion on gardening and farming.
1. American Survival Guide – All hail American Survival Guide, also known as ASG. If you were a survivalist in the 1990s, ASG was a must have. For those of us that did not want get on a mailing list, a trip to the local magazine stand was a monthly ritual. This magazine had it all – everything from turning 2 ALICE packs into a raft, to growing herbs, to basket weaving. My buddies and I will sometimes pull out our old ASGs and discuss the articles.
Its a shame that ASG went out of print. It was the only magazine that main stream survivalism to the masses.
So once you have a nice supply of survival magazines, what do you to with them? Personally I keep a small supply of magazines here at the house. The rest are moved to the camp. Ok, why is there a supply of survival magazines at the camp?
They make good reading material – when your sitting at the camp, its deer season, the sun went down before 6pm, its cold outside, its only an hour before bed time so you can get up at 4:30am to go get in the stand – having a variety of reading material is a good way to pass the time.
Education material – if some kind of SHTF situation occurs, having resource material at your bug out location is a wise idea. Instead of scratching your head wondering what kind of fertilizer works best for turnips greens, whip out your books on gardening and read up.
There are a lot of good magazines out there. The key is to find the ones that fit your needs, get a subscription going, build up a nice stockpile, and then distribute the magazines to your camps.
Post your comments in this forum thread about stockpiling survival related magazines.
Being a survivalist in the 1990s
Survivalism, like everything else changes with time. During the Cold War – the 1950s and 1960s – people were worried about nuclear war with Russia. In the 1990s theories were a dime a dozen about how the United Nations was going to invade the USA. In the 2000s we were worried about terrorist attacks, and now in 2010 we are worried about financial collapse.
As I think about the past few decades, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s,,, to me, the 1990s was the best decade for survivalism. While Bill Clinton was president from 1993 to 2001, he probably he did more to promote survivalism / conspiracy theories then anyone else that I can think of, besides maybe Janet Reno and the Waco situation.
1991 we had the Persian Gulf conflict – Desert Shield and Desert Storm. We got to see how well the Russian made tanks held up against the M1 Abrams. We got to see the stealth fighter and bomber. The world saw that the USA can kick some butt and take names later – if there was enough left to even name.
In 1992 there was Ruby Ridge and Randy Weaver
In February to April of 1993 we had the siege in Waco.
In 1994 we had the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement – NAFTA – even though Bill Clinton said during his campaign that he would not sign NAFTA, after getting elected, he crawfished on the subject and quickly signed the treaty.
Then there the books like Vampire Slayer 2000 – that predicted the new world order by the year 2000.
American Survival Guide was still being published. ASG is one thing that I really miss about the 1990s.
The stickers on the back side of street signs – those are direction stickers for UN troops – at least that is what the conspiracy theories said anyway.
The assualt rifle ban was signed into law by Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994, which did not help public relations any.
There was talk of a United Nations invasion, and door-to-door gun seizers. This went along with the assualt rifle ban. Whoever did not hand over their guns, the UN would go to your house and arrest you.
Black Hawk army helicopters were flying low over livestock in some kind of experiment. I never did really understand this conspiracy theory.
The internet was still in its infancy. I remember an article in ASG about using bulletin boards on the internet. The article went into detail about internet service providers, having a 14kb modem (or slower), compuserve and I think AOL was even mentioned. The article included a picture of an old DOS based computer,,, it sure is strange to look back on those articles now.
To get ready for the year 2K
My buddies and I stockpiled bout 2 cords of firewood – to be able to cook after the power plants went off line. My buddy and I had bar-b-q pits that used wood. So we would be able to cook for a long time without electricity.
We stockpiled several months worth of food.
We bought several 16 gallon drums and filled them with gasoline. this was for the generator and our trucks.
We had our bug out location ready, with primary and secondary evacuation routes picked out. I would take the time to drive the bug out routes, record the mileage, and drive time.
My buddies and I, we held meetings where we had brainstorming sessions. We would throw out ideas and discuss them. We talked about stuff like bugging out, hunting, stockpiling food, water, cooking after the power plants went off line,,, typical stuff that survivalist talk about.
There are several things about the 1900s that I miss, like my kids still being little. But they have to grow up sooner or later.
Post your comments in this forum thread about being a survivalist in the 1990s.
The mindset of radical survivalist
The 1970s and the 1980s were interesting times for survivalist. The threat of nuclear war with Russia was a clear and present danger. Russia was in Afghanistan getting its butt kicked by a bunch of nomads. Duck and cover public service announcements were broadcast on TV. Soldier of Fortune magazine and American Survival Guide was the reading material of the day. But it was in the 1990s and beyond when things really got “interesting.”
The 1980s
When I was in high school (1982 – 1986), the dad of one of my friends seemed a little “radical” to say the least. If not radical, maybe just very, very paranoid. This was before I had very much knowledge or experience in stuff like the New World Order (NWO) and conspiracy theories.
This happened about 23 years ago, but I am going to try and tell the story the best that my memory serves me.
The father of my buddy had busted holes in the walls of the house, then stuck a rifle into the hole. He said if the feds ever come to get him, he wanted a firearm within reach. So there was a gun in the wall of every room. Even while sitting on the toilet there was a firearm within reach.
The dad stayed armed just about all the time with a Colt 1911 45 ACP. There were a couple of times where the dad was seen in town with the pistol. One time he was at a local grocery store when a clerk saw the pistol in his pocket – the clerk called the police. When the police approached the man, the son asked the officer if they could talk in private. The son told the police that his dad was a little “off” – and he was. The police officer was nice enough not to arrest the man, but made him leave the store.
Then there was the stories of the FBI watching his house, bugging his telephone, following him,,,,,,.
My buddies dad ran a small home based business and repaired small engines, such as lawn mowers and boat motors. I think this had something to do with making below a certain amount so he did not have to pay income taxes.
The family lived a very frugal lifestyle, ate a lot of cheap food (such as peanut butter), wore clothes that had holes in them, did not go to town very often. If memory serves me right, most of their food was out of store bought cans. This was so when the power was cut off very little food would spoil. I remember the family eating a lot of peanut butter and honey.
One story the dad told me went something like this – years ago he was away from home working on a construction job. Instead of renting an apartment or hotel room, he slept under his car. There just happened to be a panther living in the area. So the dad started putting food out for that panther and slowly tamed it.
About 3 years ago – 2005, 2006 or 2007 – I saw the dad at a local grocery store. He looked kinda rough and gave the appearance of being homeless. His hair was in a tangled mess, his clothes were dirty looking and he had a strange, almost lost look in his eyes. He is not homeless as I know where he lives and I see his car parked there on a regular basis. I did not speak to him, maybe I should have, maybe I am glad I didn’t.
I just can not imagine being so paranoid, as to believe that the government is watching everything that I do. It seemed that my buddies dad was obsessed that the FBI (or someone else) was watching every move he made.