Today I have a special return visit from Max Velocity who has agreed to share some additional thoughts during the Backdoor Survival Winter Book Festival. In addition, he has two new books that we will be giving away this week: Rapid Fire!: Tactics for High Threat, Protection and Combat Operations
Before we begin, I would like to announce the winner of last week’s giveaway. “Karen” has won a copy of Understanding the Use of Handguns for Self-Defense
Here is why Karen wanted to win a copy of Understanding the Use of Handguns for Self-Defense.
I appreciate being entered to win a copy of the latest book in review.
I believe that I can always learn more about any topic, and this is a very important topic. I’m 51 and have been shooting since I was 23. But ammo is expensive and recently there is little of it on the shelves. Reading this book could help maximize range time while using less ammo. And I would also like to read the book to find out whether there is anything faulty in my thought-process or technique.
I’m sure I can learn something worthwhile.
Be sure to check out the details of this week’s giveaway below.
PATRIOT DAWN: THE RESISTANCE RISES
The Survival Husband recently read Patriot Dawn and can not quit talking about it (in a good way, of course). I am thrilled to share his mini-review with you.
Survival Husband reviews Patriot Dawn by Max Velocity
A major jihadist attack on Washington D.C. allows the administration to turn the U.S. into a police state by basically stripping the citizenry of their rights. The story follows one man and his family who has prepared for an event such as this. Using his skill as a former army ranger, he fights back. He also uses a former military contact to help him form and lead a patriot unit.
I won’t say any more specifically regarding the novel, but want to let you know that Patriot Dawn opened my eyes to how unprepared I am. I thought I had planned fairly well but there are skills I need to learn and hone. Even more important, there is a mindset I need to develop in order to be prepared for a crisis event be it natural disaster, economic collapse or a synopsis of what I just described.
This not something you can do on your own, you need to form a community and to plan for any event. I thought I knew that before but now even more so.
This novel will open your eyes and while it is entertaining, it also will help you gain insight relative to what skills and what sustenance plans you need to make in order to survive.
AN ENCORE INTERVIEW WITH MAX VELOCITY
Given your background and knowledge, what do you feel are the three most important survival or prepping skills?
There are a multitude of ‘skills’ that could be considered important or vital and be relevant in survival or prepping situations. For example, in a pure ‘plane crash’ style survival situation, making fire and emergency shelter are primary skills. For prepping, you may want to look at homesteading style skills aimed at self-sufficiency. But of course the more complicated skills require the right tools, which you need to have knowledge of and collect, so you can farm or make cheese or whatever. I use these as examples. So, there are a multitude of skills from basic survival through to full self-sufficiency of a retreat homestead.
I say all that so that I can point out that in my opinion the most important skills are of the mind and body. We cannot know the situation we will face, and what equipment we may have. Therefore, to list three, I would list mental resilience, physical fitness and resourcefulness. To explain:
1. Mental resilience is essential in a survival situation so that we will never give up, we will keep fighting for the survival of our family and ourselves. The mental battle is easily lost giving way to despair and death. You don’t even need a great deal of hope, just a little; sheer ‘bloody mindedness’ to never give up is what will help the most. There are many stories of boats found afloat after storms, the crews having given up to despair before their equipment ever did. Fight the mental battle.
2. Physical fitness is very important. This is not the same as athleticism. Granted if you have health issues you may be disadvantaged but perhaps the mental resilience will get you through? What I mean by physical fitness (or resilience) is the physical strength and endurance to drive yourself to keep working. It is tied very closely to mental resilience, and if the mental gives out the physical will also. There is much to do in a survival and prepping situation: physical labor, chores, collecting of things etc. You don’t have to be a marathon runner or an Olympic athlete, you just need to be able to go out and dig a hole, for example, and not give up while doing it.
3. Resourcefulness is that ability to think in a survival situation and make things work, taking the equipment and tools that you have to improve your situation.
Its taking non-optimal situations and fashion ‘stuff’ to improve your lot. It could be building shelter, or working out how to fix something I’m not really talking about learning a mechanical skill, its more simple than that it’s the ability to take what you have and improve it, even if that goes back to metal resilience and physical fitness because you have to work hard to achieve it. Maybe you have to build a shelter or fix part of your cabin that suffered from a tree fall, examples that come to mind.
As an author in the survival and/or prepping niche, what are you personally preparing for?
I am personally most concerned about the potential for economic collapse. I see the danger of such a situation potentially in the near future, leading to massive civil unrest, perhaps causing or caused by a grid down situation. I think that however we get there, the threat we face is once the grid goes down and we face mass starvation. I see economic collapse as a very real threat, but of course that may be a rapid or a slow process. Any situation, including something like a cyber-attack, that overlays an economic crisis and puts the grid down will drop us into the fan blades.
THE BOOK GIVEAWAY
A copy of Max Velocity’s two books, Rapid Fire!: Tactics for High Threat, Protection and Combat Operations
As always, you must leave a comment in order to be entered in the giveaway. This week, we are having the equivalent of an open mic. You may comment on anything you like. Share a concern, offer a tip, indicate why your prepare – whatever you wish.
Please indicate which book you are interested in and if you wish to be considered for both books, you will need to enter a second comment (sorry, that is the easiest way for me to keep track of the entries).
The deadline is 6:00 AM Pacific next Friday. A winner will be selected next Friday at random using tools on the random.org website.
THE FINAL WORD
It is always a joy to hear from authors that want to do an encore visit with Backdoor Survival. In closing this week, I want to remind you that mental resilience is essential to survival – we must never give up. That means we need to maintain a stronghold of tenacity and willingness to prevail.
Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye
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Spotlight Items: Naturally, today’s spotlight are the two books that are part of the Winter Book Festival.
Rapid Fire!: Tactics for High Threat, Protection and Combat Operations
Patriot Dawn: The Resistance Rises
Bargain Bin: Listed below are all of the books in the Backdoor Survival Winter Reading List. There are both fiction and non-fiction titles and a bit of something for everyone. Also, some of these books are Kindle e-books but you do not need a Kindle to read Kindle e-books. Simply download the free Kindle app
The Backdoor Survival Winter Reading List – Non-Fiction
The Prepper Next Door: A Practical Guide For Disaster And Emergency Planning
(Author Charlie Palmer)
Rapid Fire!: Tactics for High Threat, Protection and Combat Operations
(Author Max Velocity)
Lanterns, Lamps and Candles (Author Ron Brown)
An Operations Manual For Humankind – The Complete Compendium Of Natural Health: (Author: Paul Patrick Robinson)
Understanding the Use of Handguns for Self-Defense
(Author David Nash)
Where There Is No Doctor (Authors David Werner, Jane Maxwell, Carol Thuman)
Making the Best of Basics – Family Preparedness Handbook: (Author James Talmadge Stevens)
How to Live on $10,000 a Year – Or Less
– Newly Revised for 2013 (Author George Ure)
Barbed Wire, Barricades, and Bunkers: The Free Citizen’s Guide to Fortifying the Home Retreat
(Author F.J. Bohan)
The Prepper’s Pantry: Building and Thriving with Food Storage
(Author Anne Lang)
The Truth About Simple Unhooked Living (Author Estar Holmes)
– Newly Revised for 2013 (Author George Ure)
(Author F.J. Bohan)
(Author Anne Lang)The Backdoor Survival Winter Reading List – Fiction
Preppers Road March
(Author Ron Foster)
BUG OUT! Preppers on the move!
(Author Ron Foster)
The Light In The Lake: The Survival Lake Retreat
(Author Ron Foster)
Patriot Dawn: The Resistance Rises: (Author Max Velocity)
Holding Their Own: A Story of Survival
(Author Joe Nobody)
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11 Steps to Living a Strategic Life: This little book will provide you with the motivation to get started or stay on track with a self-reliant life. 11 Steps to Living a Strategic Life, co-authored with my long time pal, George Ure (www.urbansurvival.com), and can purchased from Amazon.
(Author Ron Foster)
(Author Ron Foster)
(Author Ron Foster)
(Author Joe Nobody)
Winter Book Festival and Giveaway: Max Velocity Returns is the latest article from the Survival Woman at Backdoor Survival.