THE PREPAREDNESS PAPERS

WHAT IS ANTHRAX? Anthrax is a potentially fatal disease of domestic livestock like cattle, horses, sheep, and goats, in underdeveloped agricultural regions of South and Central America, Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, as well as in wild livestock in the United States. Anthrax is caused by the bacterium...

SUMMARY Disposable batteries will be needed for several important purposes in an emergency situation, including safe lighting. NICAD batteries are unsuited for this role. A modest stock of disposable batteries can easily be maintained in a household, increasing emergency preparedness and perhaps even reducing the cost of operation of battery operat...

Question: Some scientists believe there is a possibility of a major earthquake striking which of the following major cities: Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Memphis, St. Louis, New York City, Boston or Charleston? Answer: All of the above. While one tends to associate California with earthquakes, several major eastern metropolitan areas have e...

WHITE HOUSE MEETING It was decided to forward the following to the national office for reference. A series of brainstorming meetings will be held at the White House through winter 1994. All suggestions should be collated and delivered to our policy team by then. FUNDRAISERS A series of fundraisers should be organized for local political allies thro...

Countless articles have been written on the need for emergency medical preparedness. Many of us have devoted considerable time, effort and money to paramedical training and elaborate provisions for medical self-sufficiency. Indeed, many survivalists have concentrated on acquiring arcane knowledge of herbal medicine, believing that homeopathic (so-c...

It seems that sore throats and coughs have afflicted people forever, whether resulting from the proximate causes of pollen, dust, and smoke, or from talking too much, or yelling, or even from "catching" something from another person. Fortunately, there are quite a few natural remedies which help relieve the pain and discomfort of coughs and sore th...

Wild buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) is one of Southern California's most common chaparral plants. You see it everywhere in the dry chaparral hills, generally appearing as low green mounds with the conspicuous round brown flower heads rising above the mounds. Most hikers to the chaparral hike through and over wild buckwheat regularly without kno...

For countless generations of American Indians, acorns were the staff of life. Some families gathered up to 500 pounds of acorns every September through November as they ripened. Today, most people regard acorns as food only for squirrels, and literally tons of this good food go to waste every autumn in the forest and on city streets. What a shame. ...

What are the attributes of Aloe vera - that succulent member of the Lily Family - which have kept the plant in popular use for centuries? Although the Aloe vera is the most commonly known of the Aloes, all can be used in more-or-less the same way. The gel of this succulent plant is applied directly to the skin for burns, including sun burns. Pain s...

"Live light upon the land if you would not be earthbound." by Shining Bear For years I thought "Wild food would get me through an emergency, so I'm glad I'm familiar with the local wild plants." Though I used wild food somewhat frequently, this context lurked, unacknowledged, as one of the larger motivators for that use. It was only after marketing...

Few people like the idea of having things like booby traps around, because they have the effect of poisoning an environment to both sides. Even the most hardened and ruthless criminals don't usually like them. So fortunately they're not as common as they might be, at least during peacetime. This of course is why they're so effective when they are u...

Throughout most of the United States, one can find one or more soap plants occurring in the wild. Most of these were used by Native Americans, and at least one is considered an ornamental. In fact, there are quite a few plants which contain saponins, though not in volumes that make the plants useful as soap. Soap plants are quite a bit different fr...

WHY IMPACT WEAPONS? In some circles, there appears to be a triad of self-defense: firearms, knives, and chemical sprays, in that order of prefer­ence. Impact weapons are often the forgotten "cousin" who is not discussed. In addition, there are many magazines and books devoted to firearms and knives, and there is a certain "sex appeal" (no pun inten...

SKILL DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES The student will be able to: perform a rapid scene assessment and triage of multiple patents, perform a thorough field assessment and body survey of a patient in order to determine the nature of the patient's complaints and injuries, quickly recognize and manage immediate life threatening conditions including choking, n...

Nuclear, biological and chemical incidents are common in all industrial societies. Propane Explosion in Toronto, Canada A veteran firefighter died trying to extinguish a massive fire at a propane depot in north Toronto, a blaze that closed major highways and forced thousands to flee their homes. Cajon Pass Derailment Hazardous chemicals and materia...

Though ginseng root is regarded as a panacea by herbalists the world over, I'd rather use "poor man's ginseng" which grows, free-for-the-picking, all around us. "Poor man's ginseng is almost as nutritional as ginseng, and can be consumed in large amounts without worry. What is "Poor man's ginseng"? I'm speaking of the common, ordinary dandelion, th...

Many hikers today routinely enjoy beef jerky as a part of their trail-side meals. But, it wasn't that long ago that you'd have to make your own jerky. Now that jerky is so common in any backpacking store, and even at convenience stores, the making of jerky is fast becoming another "lost art."   Indians of the Americas used to build stick platf...

As evidenced by the many societies who still today effectively use silent, primitive weapons; the firearm is not the only method of defense or hunting. Still, aren't all firearms better than any of the primitive weapons? The answer all depends on your perspective. If you consider the relative inherent accuracy of most modern firearms, the relative ...

Making fire with the Indian bow and drill is a survival skill worth acquiring should more conventional methods of fire-starting become unavailable. Due to fire's importance in survival situations, I regularly stress the need to carry several fire-starting devices, and to learn several methods. Nevertheless, all the modern gadgets in the best backpa...

You can let a camper take all the gear they want, but I've learned that four items provide the strongest link to "civilization." Thus, the hiker who wants to be the most self-sufficient should learn how nature can provide these items: food, matches, toilet paper, and a sleeping bag. The availability of these four items provides a psychological link...

During a recent visit to Wildwood Canyon Park north of Burbank in the Verdugo Hills, I picked up a flat rock. It was about one-half inch thick, and measured roughly ten inches by seven inches. I decided to use this rock to practice stone cooking. My cooking surface would be the side of the rock that was completely flat. I placed my flat rock on a f...