Chapter 6: There's an app for that.

We live in a high-tech world.  Let's face it, the laptop on which I'm typing this entry contains more computer power than the original lunar lander.  Cellphones have morphed into pocket computers that pretend to be phones.  One can sit in a restaurant and watch as a table full of people sits in silence while each person is deeply engrossed in his/her private texting conversations.

It's kind of sad, really.  We've seemingly lost the ability to communicate face to face.  When I was growing up, parents were railing against the teenage practice of wearing earphones connected to portable cassette players.  Then there was the handheld video games.  Then the CD players.  Now everything is combined into one glorious little entertainment system that sucks the intelligence quotient right out of us, making us oblivious to the beauty and the interactions around us.

That being said, my day job is as a wireless phone salesman.  It's what I do all day long.  I show people how to use smartphones and wireless internet devices for a major corporation.  It's a pretty good gig if you can get it.

With my mindset of preparing for a political/economic/societal breakdown scenario, I've often regarded my mobile devices as the first thing I would leave behind if I ever had to "bug out."  Think about it.  The GPS features in cellphones and tablets can easily aid government officials in searching you out.  Not only that, but your cellphones and network capable tablets ping cellphone company towers, allowing authorities to easily and accurately triangulate your position.  So, in a Mad Max world, the cellphone is a liability.

However, today I started thinking of the time between the bug-out situation and now.  Right now I carry a phone.  Right now I carry an Android tablet.  I use them for work and entertainment.  But can they be useful to me in my prepping?

You bet they can!

The two major operating systems are Android and iOS.  These are both very good, and I sell and use both in my work.  Each operating system has hundreds of thousands of applications (apps) of all types.  I prefer the Android platform because, among many other reasons, far more apps are free and there is a wider variety of apps available.

Today I thought about what apps could help me prepare for hard times.  Here's a few apps available on the Android platform through Google Play.

US ARMY SURVIVAL GUIDE by milodroid
Put the entire U.S. Army survival guide on your phone, offline. Can install on sd card(2.2+). Based on the U.S. Army Survival Manual FM 3-05.70keywords: hiking backpacking biking camping hunting skiing snowmobiling running outdoors poisonous snakes insects edible plants animals find water shelter survive travel desert mountains wilderness survivor knots marine corps navy usmc air force

US Army Sniper Training Manual by milodroid
Work on your sharp-shooting skills.  Hone your skill at stealthy movement techniques and camouflage.  Be all that you can be!  Not a bad bit of knowledge to have!  Whether you need a refresher course or are trying to self-teach, these are good skills to practice.






Special Forces Medical Manual by Warrior Code Applications
Special Forces Medics provide care to soldiers and civilians in primitive conditions, often without modern medical equipment. Now with this application, access the hard won knowledge of these professionals anywhere, anytime. Also reference Warrior Code's SOF Medical Handbook for the ultimate field medicine resource.

US Army Capture Avoidance GTA by FA53
GTA 80-01-002 was produced by the US Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group at Ft. Meade, designed to give Solders who might find themselves in Enemy territory techniques for avoiding capture, as well as some tips for recovering personnel who have been captured.

Chapter 5: Our Lives, Our Fortunes, and Our Sacred Honour

I love freedom.  I know that sounds like a ridiculous statement.  Sort of like the old days when you'd read the personal ads in the newspaper, and nine out of ten of them said "I love to have fun."  Well, Duh! Who doesn't?  I suppose there has to be that curmudgeon out there who hates fun.  I simply haven't met him yet.

But this is different.  I am so in love with freedom that it's one of the most important things in my life.  Life is unfit to live without freedom.  I've always sort of been sad whenever I've gone to the zoo.  The zoo is full of amazing creatures, yet the sight of them makes me sad.  I don't care how much effort they put into replicating an animal's natural habitat, the fact that the animal can never, of its own volition, venture beyond the confines of a zoo enclosure breaks my heart.

I love freedom.

I love freedom so much that I have vowed to myself that I would die defending it if necessary.

My wife and I recently watched the movie Schindler's List.  I had read the book and had seen the movie years ago, but it has not lost its impact.  As I watched the German soldiers rounding up the Jews, separating families, and ushering them away to concentration camps, I told my wife "Just so you know, if it ever came down to that, I would fight to the death before they would take us like that."  I meant it, too.

In one of my earlier posts, I posited the notion that we must each ask ourselves how far we would go to defend ourselves and our families.  By the same token, we must decide in advance how much effort we will put into defending our freedom.  It's an individual choice... one only you can make for you.  I, for one, have decided that I will live by Patrick Henry's famous declaration, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"  There is no third option.  Liberty or death.

Now, anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I'm a pretty laid back guy.  I'm not out there looking for a fight.  Neither, however, will I back down from one if there's a threat to those I love.

I was raised by a Vietnam veteran.  My dad taught me to stand and honor the flag and those who fight for it.  I am one of those old fashioned fellas who still removes his hat and covers his heart when the national anthem is played.  I respect my country and I will fight until my very last breath to help ensure her longevity.

I've never looked at athletes or movie stars as heroes.  Even as a kid I thought it odd that people idolized those who played games or pretended for a living.   When I was growing up I was always moved by the raw courage of those brave men who defied the most powerful tyrant on Earth and pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in the hope of founding a new nation based on the concept of personal liberty.

Think about it.  Britain had the most powerful army in existence.  Britain had the most powerful navy on the waters.  By signing the Declaration of Independence, these fifty-six men were signing their death warrants.  They stood boldly in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful foe.  They had little chance for success, save Divine Providence, yet they determined that liberty was more important than safety.  These admittedly imperfect men showed spines of steel as they, one by one, walked to a table before their peers and signed their names to a document that would most certainly bring them hardship and, in many cases, even death.  But they did it anyway.

That beats the ability to throw a football any day.

I think we have forgotten what liberty and honor mean.  Every Independence Day, I'm amazed that the most common theme on the news is how many sobriety checkpoints will be put into place on the roads.  Is Independence day really a day for drunkenness?  Shouldn't we soberly remember those whose sacrifices made our nation possible and have sustained her through tragedies and wars?  Shouldn't we, with earnest hearts, reflect upon the awesome responsibility that rests upon our shoulders to preserve that which they so graciously and valiantly provided us?

It seems, though, that recent years has brought a sense of apathy in the area of civic responsibility.  Rare is the citizen who will stand and be counted in opposition of the powers that be.  Few are they who will refuse to bleat like sheep being driven toward a the cliff where freedom ends and bondage begins.

I believe the near future will force each of us to decide if we are one of those who will stand, or one who will blend in with the flock.  Will we bow to tyranny or will we turn around and stand boldly against those whose evident power causes them believe they can destroy our liberty.  I believe it won't be long before we begin to see blatant atrocities committed by those in power, perpetrated against citizens whose only crime is disagreeing with them.  The question is, do we go with the flow or do we stand and make our grievances known?  At what point, if any, do we determine that we will no longer comply with policies that violate the fundamental freedoms afforded to us by our brave forefathers?

The groundwork has been laid.  The National Defense Authorization Act was passed by Congress and signed by the President.  This act authorized the military to indefinitely detain American Citizens based on the accusation of terrorist connections. * * * The latitude that is afforded the authorities in these cases is broad, since in states like my own, the term "potential domestic terrorist" has been applied to anyone with Christian bumper stickers or yard signs, anyone who vocally supports the second amendment, or even former military personnel.  Much has been made of potential FEMA detention centers scattered throughout the country. * * Whether these camps are legitimate or a fallacy is hotly debated.  However, with the other developments taking place in the US, the concept is not beyond the realm of believability.  President Obama has proposed a civilian security force that is as well equipped and as well-funded as the military. * * * It has already been funded by the Health Care Reform Bill.  It was voted into place by elected officials against the overwhelming cries of a majority of Americans.  Is it still hard to imagine they would violate the civil liberties of law abiding citizens?  When a government has no restraint it shows no mercy.

So I ask you, how far will you go to defend liberty?  How important are your freedoms to you?  How important is the freedom of your family?  If it comes down to it, will you ride the trains, or will you rise up in defense of your nation and your family?

It is a topic that we must all reconcile in our own hearts.  Will we cower in the shadows?  Or shall we, like our brave forefathers, pledge to one another "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour" in the defense of liberty?  I, for one, have decided.  Are you with me?