Category: SHTF

My Readers being a sensible lot, I probably shouldn’t need to post a warning about a seasonal SHTF situation like this one:

I’m going to ignore the funny bits — e.g. the hapless Kamela Harris tweeting that “America is on the move again” — to focus on the important stuff.

When I lived in Chicago and was faced with a drive of any distance away from home, I made sure that I had the following:

• full tank of gas, and a 5-gallon can in reserve
• two blankets — a regular woolen type and one of those Mylar things
• water (kept inside the car, not in the trunk where it could freeze)
• emergency food (a large jar of peanut butter, crackers, chocolate and a package of jerky, as well as some hard candy for a quick sugar boost)
• shovel (one of those military entrenching tools, see below)
• 10-lb bag of cat litter
• as well as the usual emergency things one should keep in the car anyway, e.g. flashlight, blaze orange vest, insulated work gloves, road flares and so on.

Nineteen hours, as above, is a long time to be stranded in freezing weather without any kind of sustenance, and it’s just pure luck that the above episode didn’t claim any lives.

Feel free to add anything you think I’ve missed.

 
(German mil-surp — I actually have two of them.  I prefer them to the U.S. all-steel version, because the wooden handle works better in cold weather.)

A little while back, Larry Correia done a rant, excellent as always, ending with the wonderful payoff line:

But these stupid motherfuckers are not going to quit pushing until a critical mass of Americans just says fuck it and go full on Rwandan machete party.

Unlikely.  The only reason the Rwandans went all slashy was because they had no Second Amendment at their disposal.  We, however…

Anyway, Larry’s point was not about machetes, per se, but predictably the comments that followed were all about machetes, good ones, brand names, where to get them, etc.

Kinda like the tangent my Readers would follow, bless ’em.

Of course, in that SHTF eventuality I wouldn’t depend on a machete (panga, as they’re known in Africa), because of the invention of brass cartridges and their excellent launching platforms as created by John Moses Browning, Mikhail Kalashnikov and other such fine folks.

Anyway, I believe I have the “slash” part of the party quite adequately covered by my Fox 685 “Trekking” blade:

…but believe me, it’s way down the list of tool options for the Great Society Realignment of 202x.

I’ve mentioned this bad boy in the past as a worthwhile addition to a SHTF bag:

I see it as an axe, a hammer, a nail-puller and, in fact, a fairly decent weapon.  All for under $40.

Walmart has the Estwing version — all-metal, for half a dozen bucks more.

Both are made in the U.S., so that’s all good.  My only word of advice is that you may want to touch up the axe blade of each one a tad, as I did mine (I have two in my SHTF bag) — they’re rigger’s hatchets, not woodsman’s.