In The Rabbit Hole

Latest Episodes:

E237: How To Choose the Best Survival Retreats for Bugging Out Dec 18, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, we're joined by Jonathan Hollerman of Grid Down Consulting. We discuss the basics of survival retreats and bug out locations that may save your life in TEOTWAWKI.

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Bug Out Locations (aka BOLs) is a tough subject to tackle. And for this reason, it's not something we've covered too often.

First, there's the expense. Researching, planning, purchasing, and stocking a survival retreat adds up quickly. Very quickly!

Then there are areas most preppers just can't be sure of about their survival retreats. The how far away from a major city question comes up constantly.

And the amount of research to come up with answers is staggering. It's easy to spend months reading about all the topics that go into building a remote place to take yourself and your family when the unthinkable happens.

But there are a few professionals in the industry who commit themselves to helping others plan, find, and develop a bug out location for the worst case scenarios. And today, we sit down with one to answer many, if not most, of your questions.

Survival Retreats and Bug Out Locations Topics Discussed:

Who is Jonathan Hollerman
What it's like to become an Airforce S.E.R.E. instructor
How he translates what he learned as an S.E.R.E. instructor into what civilians need to know about survival
Hollerman's thoughts on North Korea and EMPs
The thing he believes will happen and cause the need for a bug out location
The surprising types of people he has as clients
Mental exercises and stories Hollerman shares with people to impress upon them the importance of bug out locations
Understanding how far your BOL needs to be from major cities and small towns
Selecting a property that isn't too far away from your primary residence
The biggest mistakes people make with BOLs
How to determine when it's time to bug out
Dealing with security at your BOL
What to do when you can't afford a BOL of your own
Mutual Aid Groups (aka MAGs)
Convincing reluctant spouses of the need for a BOL
The darkness of human desperation

Episode Resources:

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Show notes and resources, go here Bug Out Locations

E236: How to Train a Dog for Disasters Big and Small Dec 11, 2017

Show notes

We sit down with Jill from Remnant K9 360 to discuss how to train a dog to be a survival asset. ~ Become a supporting member here: http://www.itrh.net ~ Resources from this episode can be found at: http://www.intherabbithole.com/e236 Training a dog to be a valuable component of your survival tools doesn't get enough attention by most preppers. In fact, man's best friend gets very little attention in the community. And that's odd. Mans' best friend has a long and storied history. Some say our friendship goes back 30,000 years. And estimates place K9 ownership in the United States at 78 million. And it's estimated 36.5% of US homes have at least one dog. So you think the topic of how to train a dog would be a more frequent topic amongst preppers. But only a small fraction of survival podcast episodes and blog posts are dedicated to our furry buddies. (We're culprits of this oversight too, to be fair.) Perhaps the problem is thinking we need to turn them into full blow military working dogs. This is a long process with heaps of specialized knowledge needed and is time-consuming. The reality is this: Most of us just want something between Cujo and Mr. Buttons the spoiled pet. In this episode, we discuss making this happen. ~ How to Train a Dog And Turn Them Into a Survival Asset Topics Discussed: ~

How Jill became a prepper
When she realized how valuable a dog could be in a survival situation
What patrol training is
Training a dog for scent detection and alert
Teaching your furry friend appropriate levels of aggression
The best dog breeds for survivalists
The worst dog breeds for survivalists
When small dogs can be an unexpected survival hero
How long does dog training take for the animal to become useful
Appropriate ages for different times of training
Where obedience training fits in
The time investment needed
How online dog training classes differ from in-person classes

~ Become a supporting member here: http://www.itrh.net ~ Resources from this episode can be found at: http://www.intherabbithole.com/e236

E235: No BS Practical Gun Training For Real World Survival Dec 04, 2017

Show notes

Concealed handgun instructor Salvatore DeGennaro joins us to discuss practical gun training. He's going to share his thoughts on handguns vs. long-guns and must have [EDC] items.

We've all heard the adage, "You use your handgun to fight to your long-gun." It makes sense: long-guns are more powerful, easier to make accurate hits with, do more damage to the intended target, and tend to be immediate "fight stoppers."

And long-guns posses a greater effective range. With a weekend's worth of instruction, it is possible to for someone to achieve a high degree of consistent precision out to 400 yards. By high degree, I mean the ability to hold a 4-MOA group, over the course of 40 rounds, at varying distances, while changing positions and magazines, engaging multiple targets, and under a time constraint.

Good luck achieving that with a pistol in a weekend with a newer shooter. The newer shooter should be able to become effective out to 25-yards with a pistol. However, that is typically the limit.

But what is realistic and practical often getting tossed to the side and ignored. And there are case studies like the financial collapse of Argentina provided by FerFal. They demonstrate the real world problems involved in relying primarily on a long-gun in a grid-down or near collapse situation.

So today, Salvatore helps break it all down for us...

Practical Gun Training Topics Discussed:

Who is Salvatore DeGennaro and how did he get into guns
Why more of the gun community aren't preppers
What to look for in a handgun
Lessons from the Argentina financial collapse
The place and case for long-guns in a prepper's gun battery
How he stays sharp as a shooter and instructor
Thoughts on how to find a good handgun instructor
How to decide the amount of training time you spend on rifles vs. handguns
His list of essential EDC items
Understanding the importance of de-escalation techniques

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~ Resources from this episode can be found at:

http://www.intherabbithole.com/e235

E234: Surviving a World Wide Pandemic and Conspiracy Nov 27, 2017

Show notes

Best-selling author Steven Konkoly joins us. We discuss how he crafts his prepper fiction books just for you. And we learn about his latest book: KILL BOX: A Post-Apocalyptic Pandemic Thriller.

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~ Resources from this episode can be found at:

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Pandemics don't get enough love in the prepper fiction niche. Often, we focus on EMPs and terrorist attacks. EPMs, like Zombies, are fun thought experiment: How would people survive in a total grid scenario.

But when it comes to the most likely major disaster, pandemics are a ticking time bomb. Many say we are long overdue for a pandemic, in fact.

And here's where Konkoly takes to ball and runs with it. What if we took the idea of a pandemic and brought it into the modern world were man's hands meddle with things. Do we see zombies?

Who writes these kinds of terrifying nightmares of prepper fiction? We get to know the man behind the words in this episode with author Steven Konkoly.

Steven Konkoly and Kill Box Topics Discussed:

How he came to writing
His favorite prepper books
His favorite non-prepper fiction books
On becoming a prepper
How the book starts
The process of making characters come to life
Whether he is telling a story with survival lessons or survival lessons being shared through a story
His go-to rifle
What is the best $100 spent preparing
His most important piece of prepper equipment
What to expect next

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~ Resources from this episode can be found at:

http://www.intherabbithole.com/e234

E233: War News from the Crazy BitCoin Cryptocurrency World Nov 20, 2017

Show notes

Joey King drops by to share news from the war front. The cryptocurrency war that is. He's going to share with us some basics, history, news, and what to do with your BitCoin Cash.

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~ Resources from this episode can be found at:

http://www.intherabbithole.com/e233

The cryptocurrency world is on fire. Some would even say war is ranging. Digital currencies are seeing crazy high prices.

And there's a lot of confusion about what these cryptocurrencies are. The uninformed and uninitiated often ask, "What's the new BitCoin?" There's also a lot of misunderstandings about whether or not it's too late to get into BitCoin or if you should buy an altcoin do to cost.

But people are using the wrong paradigms to think about and invest in cryptocurrencies. This has lead to some scams, confusion, and kept people out of the market altogether.

So we've got a bit of work to do to bring people up to speed. There's a need for a shift in thinking and a bit of backstory. Not to mention the need for some basic, straightforward, and simple information how to acquire and now to store it.

And then there's wrapping our heads around what may be the worlds first true hard currency.

Joey clears most of this up in this episode...

~ Cryptocurrency topics Discussed ~

* What is digital scarcity

* How cryptocurrency attempts to solve scarcity in a digital age

* The historical and sociological implications of a decentralized digital currency

* What altcoins like Etherium and Lightcoin are and if you should pay attention to them

* Why Segwit2x was canceled and what it means for BitCoin Cash

* How to buy and sell

* Best wallets to keep your money in

* Scams to avoid

* What's real and what's marketing

* The future outlook

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~ Resources from this episode can be found at:

http://www.intherabbithole.com/e233

E232: How to Increase Wealth and Survive Your Likely Disaster Oct 30, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, Joshua Sheats of Radical Personal Finance stops by. He's going to share with us some fundamental truths of how to increase wealth and how to survive the most likely disaster to impact your life.

Money doesn't come up often enough in the preparedness community. Sometimes there's talk of having cash on hand for emergencies. Other times there's talk of gold and silver investing, bitcoins, and other more unconventional stores of wealth.

And there's sometimes talk of being debt free.

But what does it take to be financially secure, resilient, and having a life you love. After all, if you've got lots of money and hate your life, what's the point? Plus, if you don't know what you're working towards besides retirement do you know retirement is going to be successful?

Today's guest helps us start on the road to taking a long hard look and action to get you closer to increasing your wealth so you can survive personal disasters. And it helps you live a better more fulfilled life today.

~ Become a supporting member here:~ Become a supporting member here: http://www.itrh.net ~ Resources from this episode can be found at: http://www.intherabbithole.com/e232

Increase Wealth and Surviving the Likely Person Disasters:

The behavior difference between the wealthy and the broke
The value of direct, practical, and time-saving advice
Three ways people get into credit card debt and how to undo
Secured Debt vs. Unsecured Debt
Developing a debt plan
Getting pissed off enough to do something
Setting Clear Financial Goals with a result
Using questions to set goals
Questioning the magic retirement age of 65 (the lies we've been sold)
First steps for making financial change
The devious history of retirement
How the government lies about the unemployment rate
When retirement was a curse
How to quit your job and do something you love safely
The three laws of how to increase wealth
The biggest culprits bleeding your bank account
Marrying the academic integrity of financial advice with practical real word output
Joshua's prepper pet peeve

E231: How to Make the Best Gun Battery on a Small Budget Oct 23, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, Josh drops by to discuss building up the best prepper gun battery on a small budget.

Many preppers obsess over their gun battery. There's a good reason: they are among the best tools to help keep us safe and defend our lives with.

And, let's face it, most of us like guns a whole lot. They're fun to play with and many find shooting to be a relaxing hobby. (I often call it yoga with loud noises and a little more smoke.)

But building a full prepper battery of guns is expensive; especially if you are just starting out. And guns can be the most expensive part of a preppers overall kit. It's easy to drop $5,000 just on guns and glass. Five bills or more is a big bite to take for a lot of people.

Buying a full gun battery eats into what many long-time preppers feel is as important to nail down quickly: Food, medical supplies, and training. Then there's more training.

So Josh and I discuss the best guns and strategies for starting out your prepper gun battery on a small budget.

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~ Resources from this episode can be found at:

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Best Gun Battery on a Small Budget Topics:

The benefits of using a commonality team mentality
Budgeting for today and tomorrow
Preparing and buying for the 80% of what might happen first
What is the prepper gun battery
Deciding on the order in which to build up a prepper gun battery
Best budget Handguns
Best budget Shotguns
Most accurate and best budget Bolt-action rifles
Best budget AR-15s and other semi-auto rifles
Best budget 22lr Rifles
How to Buy Used Guns and Save Money

E230: This is What Happens When a Coronal Mass Ejection Strikes Oct 16, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, we're joined by Author RE McDermott. He shares with us who he is, his book Under a Tell Tale Sky, and how life after a coronal mass eject might go off the rails.

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~ Resources from this episode can be found at: http://www.intherabbithole.com/e230

Dystopian fiction books in the prepper niche often focus on EMPs. It's a seemingly easy target -- especially these days. North Korea and other bad actors are suspected of either being capable of or working diligently to produce a weapon that can destroy our grid.

But it's not often we get a book based on a coronal mass ejection; CME for short. Under a Tell Tale Sky paints a picture of what life might look like immediately after a CME. And author RE McDermott uses this scenario to demonstrate some of the benefits of being on a boat if a CME it.

A coronal mass ejection is an electromagnetic pulse caused by a solar flare, in simple terms. So it's a naturally occurring phenomenon. And there are such events in recent recorded history. Most famous and largest among them is the Carrington Event - also known as the solar storm of 1859.

Under a Tell Tale Sky Topics Discussed:

How McDermott become interested in writing
His history in the maritime industry and how it impacted the book
Why he picked a CME as the cause of the disaster for his book
Natural Vs. Man-made disasters
Balancing storytelling with technical details
McDermott's view of prepping and what he personally focuses on
The best $100 he's ever spent on preparedness (he cheats ;-)
The thing that bothers him most in the prepper community
What he considerers his go-to rifle

E229: Fundamentals of How Power Is Restored After a Catastrophe Oct 09, 2017

Show notes

In this episode, we sit down with Jay. He's going to share with us how power grids are restored and put back together after a catastrophe. Plus, we'll discuss basic safety tips for during and after a power outage to keep you safe. Preppers like us are acutely aware of how delicate society is. And when it comes to the electric grid, we're all at least a little freaked out. (Some a lot freaked out.)

EMPs, Coronal Mass Ejection, Cyber Attacks, physical attacks on plans and substations are on a lot of prepper minds. Then there's simply the mundane weather event. This massively complex thing we depend on for modern society seems to be attacking threats from all over.

But often, gaining a deeper understanding of something we worry about moves us closer to the sound part of staying safe and sound. To know a thing is to have some control over it. Maybe not a lot, but some. And it can put your mind at ease simple to understand what's happening and why.

And knowing some simple tips of what to do and what not to do when power grids go down and when it comes back up can keep you safe.

So listen in as we discuss power grids and safety...

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Power Grids and Restoration Topics Discussed:

What causes a grid to go down
The stages of how power is restored to an area
The unexpectedly complex negotiations power companies must go through
How you may be putting linemen at serious risk of electrocution and death
How gasoline and diesel became a priority one resource after disasters
Why controlling the flow of power to your home after an outage could save your home
Where and when not to use a generator
Powerfly bad puns

E228: The 1911 - Love, Hate, Myth, Practicality, and Best Basics Oct 02, 2017

Show notes

Justin Carroll drops back by to talk about the 1911 pistol. The US government paid a LOT of money teaching him to depend on one. And he shares real-world use lessons learned.

For those who don't know, he's a former Marine Recon, Marine special operations, and former government alphabet soup guy who ran a 1911 and many other guns for a living.

So Justin has just a wee bit of experience with what works and what doesn't. And today he's going to share with us some basics about the reality of depending on one and must have options for neophytes.

The 1911 pistol is a deep part American lore. If you're a child of the 70's and 80's, you probably have at least one grandfather who used one in war. And your dad might have used one in a "conflict" and most likely had a 1911 as his one go-to handgun for home defense. For this reason, many of us lust after them even though we're converts to the Tupperware warrior guns like the Glock.

But there's still that lust begging to be satiated. So today we talk all things 1911 so you can decide if it's right for you and what to look for.

[itunes]

The 1911 For Beginners Topics Discussed: