Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse

CHAPTER 4 Gearing Up

Throughout its first five years, the Group “geared up” and trained with varying intensity. The 9/11 terrorist attacks first inspired the formation of the group, but their interest was redoubled with the advent of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

There was no such thing as a “typical” training session for the group. Training was a loose term with eclectic boundaries. It ranged from anything from an evening learning how to can fruit, to a night of target shooting using tritium sights, to a practice session suturing induced wounds on a dead piglet. One memorable three-day weekend training session was “The Bucket Weekend.”

The weekend was designed to teach the importance of prioritizing. Everyone was limited to packing all of their food and camping supplies for the weekend in one five-gallon plastic bucket. After 9/11, meetings were held twice a month in the winter and once a month in the summer. At least one of the two meetings was dedicated to training. With the greater resources derived from holding full-time jobs, the group members embarked on a well-calculated buying spree.

Purchasing for each member began with a battle rifle, a riot shotgun with a spare “birdgun” long barrel and screw-in choke tubes, a .45 automatic pistol, and a .22 rifle for target practice and small game hunting. Next came all of the paraphernalia to support these guns: ammunition, dozens of magazines, cleaning kits, spare parts, holsters, and an Army LC-1 “web gear” harness with canteen and gun magazine pouches. Next, each member was expected to buy a good quality cold weather sleeping bag, and a good quality “four season” backpacking tent. All of these purchases had to conform to specific standards set by the group.

The first major point of disagreement in standardizing the group’s purchases came when they selected their field uniform. Some of the group’s members thought that wearing a camouflage uniform might attract more attention than it was worth. Eventually, however, it was decided that camos were a must when Jeff pointed out that they would assure positive identification of group members at a distance. He explained that this would make it difficult for a non-group member to slip into the perimeter of their retreat without being noticed. By the time that the Group was standardizing their uniform, the U.S. Army had long since issued the woodland camouflage battle dress uniform (BDU), which replaced the old olive drab fatigues. The issue of digital pattern Army Combat Uniform (ACU) camouflage to the U.S. Army starting in 2005 did not alter the situation significantly, since woodland pattern BDUs were so ubiquitous.

Rather than buy woodland BDUs or ACUs, which were widely available on the surplus market, Todd’s group decided to standardize with the British DPM (disruptive pattern, marine) camouflage fatigues and jackets, which were then available as surplus at a reasonable price. The reasoning behind the DPMs was that because the BDU pattern was so widely available as military surplus, it had become ubiquitous. It was Kevin Lendel that made the cogent observation that if the Group were to standardize with the BDU pattern, then outsiders might still be able to slip into their perimeter without being noticed. It was better, he said, to be in camouflage, but in a different pattern than that normally seen in the States. The only serious drawback to the decision to standardize with DPMs was that the dollar lost value on foreign exchange markets in the early “Aughts.” Just before the Crunch, the price of DPMs had risen to ninety dollars a set. In retrospect, Todd wished that that they had standardized with a civilian camouflage pattern like Real Tree or Advantage. And at the time there was yet another option available—the plethora of surplus uniforms from former Soviet Bloc countries that flooded the market. Any of these would have been less expensive options than continuing to pay high prices for the increasingly scarce DPMs.

The second point of disagreement over standards, which was never fully settled, was about the group’s standard rifle. Most of the group’s members realized the potential of the powerful 7.62mm NATO cartridge (also known as the .308 Winchester), and wanted to standardize with either the Springfield Armory M1A (a civilian version of the Army’s M14) or the West German HK91 battle rifle. Others, mainly the women and those of small stature such as T.K., wanted to standardize with the less powerful 5.56 mm NATO cartridge, (also known as .223 Remington). A number of good defensive rifles were available chambered in this cartridge, including the Colt AR-15 (a semiautomatic version of the Army’s M16) and its collapsing stock and short-barreled sibling, the Colt CAR-15, later called the M4. Two other well-made alternatives were the Ruger Mini-14 and the Armalite AR-180. One of the main lines of reasoning for .223 was that more cartridges per pound could be carried than with .308. This weight would make a difference on long-range patrols.

The argument over a group standard semiauto rifle raged for three meetings. Dan Fong voiced the key question:“Why do we need a standard rifle anyway? All we need is a standard cartridge. Everyone can just stock their own spare parts.”

Jeff Trasel rebuked: “When we are out on a patrol, and get into a firefight, some of us will undoubtedly run out of ammunition so darn quick that they won’t believe it. At a time like that, when they are shouting to other patrol members for spare ammo, they certainly won’t want to be worrying about whether one magazine will fit in another weapon. That’s why we absolutely need to have a standard rifle. Interchangeability of magazines is the key factor, but interchangeability of spare parts is also a plus.”

When the issue could not be resolved, Todd finally put his foot down and set a “dual standard.” Group members preferring the .223 cartridge could go ahead, but they had to be either an AR-15 or CAR-15, because they used the same magazines, and had compatibility for critical spare parts. Those preferring

.308—mainly large-statured members—would buy a Heckler and Koch Model 91. Period. Anyone who already owned a nonstandard rifle could keep it, or those desiring to do so could buy one, but they also had to buy one of the group standard rifles and at least ten spare magazines. Further, every standard semiauto rifle also had to be equipped with radioactive tritium night sights.

Luckily, the arguments over standardizing a shotgun, pistol, and .22 caliber rifle for the group were neither as lengthy nor intense. The group eventually decided to standardize with the Remington Model 870 in twelve-gauge, the Colt .45 automatic pistol, and the Ruger Model 10/22 rifle for target practice and small game shooting.

When the issue of exactly what model of the .45 auto to standardize on was raised, it was decided that “any model of the .45 (such as the Government Model, Gold Cup, or Commander), as long as it is Colt or Kimber made” was sufficient, because they all used the same type magazines and had largely interchangeable parts. Eventually, most of the group members bought the Gold Cup model with adjustable sights. Typically, they bought the factory standard Gold Cup and added extended slide releases, extended safeties, and Trijicon tritium sights. After a failure of one of their Gold Cup’s fragile rear sights, those members who owned Gold Cups also had them drilled out for a larger solid cross pin to replace the thin roll pin that came from the factory.

The trend toward stainless steel guns was in full swing when the group was gearing up. Most of the group members either bought stainless steel handguns from the outset, or later upgraded to them. In some cases, they sold their old blue steel .45s when they upgraded to stainless steel. Others decided to keep their older blue steel Colts as spares, or for barter. Kevin Lendel spent more than the other group members when he upgraded to stainless steel. He used an annual Y-Dyne bonus check to buy a “factory custom” stainless steel model that the Colt Custom Shop called the “Special Combat Government.” It came from the factory with Bo-Mar sights, an extended thumb safety, and a beaver-tail grip safety. Kevin added Pachmayr rubber grips and an extended slide release. In all, he invested more than a thousand dollars in the pistol.

Dan Fong got the group members to sell off all of their old seven-round magazines, and buy supplies of the new eight-round magazines for their guns chambered in .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol). The newer magazines held an extra round. At twenty-eight dollars each, the new magazines did not come cheap, especially when most of the group members had eight or more magazines for each of their .45s.

Although each group member was expected to acquire basic skills, specialization was encouraged. The theory was that each group member would develop a specialized skill, and then, as time permitted, cross-train other members. Todd chose logistics as his specialty. T.K. chose personnel. Mary became medical officer, Mike Nelson chose explosives and demolitions, and his wife Lisa chose martial arts. With expertise on nearly every firearm, Dan Fong became the “unit armorer.”

Kevin Lendel held two specialties. The first was communications. The second was food storage and preparation. He chose the latter specialty because he had always loved cooking. Ken Layton was transportation coordinator, while his wife Terry volunteered to coordinate purchasing. During his brief membership, the already overtrained Jeff Trasel declared himself “tactical coordinator” and group librarian. After he quit the group, Mike Nelson replaced Trasel as tactical coordinator, while Kevin took over Jeff’s responsibilities as librarian.

To supplement the tactical training given by Jeff and Mike during their respective tenures, Todd, Mary, and T.K. took pistol and rifle training courses. They attended the Front Sight firearms training school, near Las Vegas, Nevada.

They each took the “Four Day Defensive Handgun” and “Four Day Practical Rifle” courses. These intensive courses greatly increased their confidence with firearms. On their return, the Grays and T.K. cross-trained the other group members in much of what they had learned at Front Sight. At $1,600 each, the courses were relatively expensive, but as Todd repeatedly told the other group members, “They’re worth every penny.”

Aside from guns and storage food, the group’s other major investment was in vehicles. Before the Grays and Kevin Lendel moved to the Palouse Hills, all of the group’s members lived either in Chicago or the outlying suburbs. As most of their survival scenarios envisioned the need to “Get Out of Dodge” in a hurry, there was correspondingly strong emphasis placed on transportation.

On this issue, the group members deferred their judgment to Ken Layton.

Layton convinced the group members to buy older American-made cars and trucks and then fully restore and modify them. To Ken’s way of thinking, new model cars and trucks were far too complex, broke down too easily, required specialized tools to work on, and were just too expensive. He also pointed out that late-model cars are a conspicuous sign of wealth, and might serve as a target during periods of social unrest. He convinced the group members to buy either late 1960s or early 1970s Ford cars and trucks or Dodge Power Wagon pickups. His only stipulation was that they had “straight” bodies (never involved in a collision) and were free of rust. That meant that most of the members bought their cars and trucks from “rust-free states” like California, Arizona, and New Mexico. They found them through the Internet or Hemming’s Auto News.

Eventually, most of the group members complied with Ken’s suggestion.

The Grays bought a 1969 Power Wagon, but never got around to replacing Mary’s 1979 VW Super Beetle. The Nelsons bought a 1968 Ford Bronco and a 1968 Ford Mustang, both of which used the same type of 289 engine. T.K. bought a 1969 Bronco, but kept his Plymouth Horizon for commuting. Kevin Lendel bought a 1971 Ford F 250 four-wheel-drive pickup. While a member, Trasel bought a Power Wagon; his was a 1970. Dan Fong, ever the noncon-formist, replaced his 1989 Camaro with a 2003 Toyota four-by-four pickup. Ken and Terry Layton followed suit with the Nelsons’ approach and bought a 1968 Bronco and a 1967 Mustang, both with 302-cubic-inch engines.

One advantage of having Ken as a member of the group was the fact that he had access to a fully equipped automotive garage after normal working hours. Although he volunteered to do most of the restoration work himself, he insisted that each group member be there and assist him during the most important phases of the work. This way, Ken reasoned, every group member would know how their vehicles were put together, how they worked, and hopefully, how to handle most minor repairs.

The vehicle restoration process that Ken insisted on turned out to be relatively expensive and time consuming. He started by pulling the engine and transmission from each vehicle, and then farming them out to other shops to be completely rebuilt. Next he would make minor body repairs, sand out the bodies, and put on a flat paint finish, usually in an earth tone. They used standard glossy car paint with a special flattener added. This gave much better rust protection than regular flat paint. At roughly the same time, he would either rebuild or replace the carburetor. Next, when the engine and transmission came back, he would reinstall them, at the same time replacing all of their auxiliary equipment, aside from carburetors, with brand new components.

This included radiators, starters, alternators, fuel pumps, water pumps, batteries, voltage regulators, starter solenoids, hoses, and belts.

Next, Ken would rework the vehicle’s suspension, usually modifying it for tougher off-road use, and do an alignment and brake job, sometimes involving replacing the master cylinder. In most cases, the vehicle’s existing wiring harnesses did not need to be replaced. By the time he was done, Ken had in effect built a whole new vehicle that would be good for at least ten years of strenuous use.

After getting their vehicles back from Ken and recovering financially, most of the group members went on to further modify their vehicles to their own liking. Most of the four-wheel drives were equipped with extra fuel tanks, beefier bumpers, and roll cages. Typically, most of the group members also added Bearcat police/weather scanners and Cobra 148GTL single-sideband forty-channel citizens’ band radios. It was Kevin that convinced the group to standardize with a more expensive single sideband (SSB) model. With the SSB feature, their CBs could be set to the full band, the upper sideband, or the lower sideband. This effectively made them eighty-channel radios. SSB transmission was also more efficient, so it provided longer-range transmissions. Since SSB broadcasts are unintelligible when heard on the much more common standard AM CBs, it added a modest level of security.

All of the group’s communications equipment was standardized soon after the debate on standardizing weapons was settled. The primary communications system was in the form of the TRC-500 headset type 500-milliwatt walkie-talkie. The “Trick Five Hundreds,” as they were soon dubbed by the group members, turned out to be an ideal choice. They were inexpensive, reliable, and because they had a hands-free, voice activated (VOX) switch mode, they proved to be ideal for use on patrols.

The only drawbacks to the TRC-500s were their limited range and that they were only available in one of two frequencies. Both of these frequencies were well known and subject to interception. This problem was solved by the electronic wizardry of Kevin Lendel. Through ads in the back of a ham radio magazine, Kevin was able to find a supplier who cut custom crystals. Kevin selected a frequency just below the 49.830-megahertz frequency of the group’s TRC-500s. Realizing that what he was doing was not exactly legal, Kevin placed an order using an assumed name. He had them delivered to a commercial post office box company in downtown Chicago that didn’t ask a lot of questions when one rented a box.

When soldering in the custom crystals into all of the group members’ TRC-500s, Kevin also took the time to seal all of the seams in the radio cases with RTV silicone sealant. This made them much more waterproof, and hence even more suitable to rough field use.

On the advice of Jeff Trasel, the group also decided to buy several military field telephones. As Trasel so pointedly put it, “If you haven’t got comm, you haven’t got jaaack.” The field telephones, connected by WD-1 two-conductor wire, would reduce the group’s reliance on their radios in the immediate area of the retreat. The two models considered were the TA-312 and TA-1. Both were available as military surplus. The audio quality of the TA-312 was better than that of the TA-1, but it was more expensive. The TA-1 was wholly sound-powered, and thus did not require batteries. The TA-312 could also be used in a sound-powered mode, but it was normally operated with a pair of D-cell batteries installed to give it better range. Because the group only anticipated needing short-range field telephone communications, they settled on the TA-1 model.

Eventually, four TA-1 field phones and over a mile of surplus WD-1 were bought as a “group purchase.” Unlike most preparedness purchasing, which was done individually, a few items such as the field phones were bought for the benefit of the entire group. The cost of most of these group purchases was shared equally, while some were “gifts to the group” on the part of individual members, and a few were paid for with unequal shares, based on the varying financial resources of the individual members.

One optional but encouraged item of equipment for group members was body armor. Mike Nelson recommended that each group member buy an extra heavy-duty bullet resistant vest of the variety worn by police SWAT teams. Mike recommended the Second Chance brand Hardcorps 3 model with extra ballistic inserts. Unlike the relatively thin vest that Mike wore on a day-to-day basis while on police duty, these extra heavy vests would stop virtually every type of pistol or shotgun projectile. With luck, they could even stop some rifle bullets. The vests were not a panacea. They could only stop a high-power rifle bullet only if it stuck directly in the small trauma plate over the chest area. And they could do nothing, of course, to stop a head shot, groin shot, or disabling shot to a limb. However, the vests were better than nothing.

Eventually five of these relatively expensive vests were bought by the Grays, the Nelsons, and Tom Kennedy. Most of the other group members promised to buy vests, but never got around to it.

Another piece of ballistic protection that was recommended was a helmet.

In the mid-1980s, the U.S. Army started issuing a helmet for its ground troops that was molded out of woven Kevlar, the same material used in modern bulletproof vests. The new helmets were immediately nicknamed “Fritz helmets” by soldiers, because they had a lip that extended below the wearer’s ears, reminiscent of the steel helmets worn by German soldiers in both of the world wars in the twentieth century. Like the vests, Kevlar helmets were expensive, so not all of the group members bought them. When they first came on the surplus market in the late eighties, they cost three-hundred-and-fifty dollars apiece. By 2002, the supply of surplus Kevlar helmets had increased to the point where their price on the civilian market dropped to roughly a hundred. Occasionally, they were found at gun shows or flea markets for even less.

Very early on in the development of the Group, the issue of exactly what scenario they were preparing for was raised. Most members were thinking in terms of banks runs and an economic collapse, followed by a general breakdown in law and order. Others leaned more toward nuclear, biological, or chemical warfare.

Dan Fong insisted that the main emphasis should be on preparedness for resistance following a takeover of the government by socialists, fascists, or communists. In the end it was decided that the group had best prepare for all conceivable scenarios, rather than just one. As Todd put it, “It would be kind of embarrassing to get ourselves all prepared for some big socioeconomic collapse, and then get nuked.”

The only preparation that Todd’s group made that they decided to keep an absolute secret was their purchase of blasting supplies and equipment. When Mike was doing research for his graduate work, it brought him into contact with a broad spectrum of loggers, farmers, and ranchers. One rancher that Mike met was Spence Loughran. Spence and his wife had a 640-acre spread twenty-five miles north of Moscow. Spence’s ranch was used to both run cattle and harvest timber. When he first met him, Mike discovered that Spence was in the middle of a project blasting some stumps on his ranch, clearing a logged-over area for hay cutting.

Mike mentioned to Spence that he had an interest in explosives, and offered to help out. They had a great time, as they both liked to “see things blow up.” By the end of the day, they were great friends. When Mike bemoaned the fact that there was an “ocean of paperwork to wade through” in getting set up with an explosives permit in Illinois, Spence offered to add Mike to his blaster’s permit, listing him as an “employee.” Five weeks later Mike got a copy of the updated permit in the mail, along with a copy of The Blaster’s Handbook, which was crammed with safety information and useful tables.

Loughran had inscribed its flyleaf, “Big City Boy: Move slow and use your noggin. God Bless, Spence.”

During subsequent visits to northern Idaho before the Crunch, first on hunting trips with Lisa, and later to help out Todd and Mary with upgrading the retreat, Mike stopped by and visited with Spence and his wife. He also regularly went to do business with an explosives distributor in Spokane,Washington. With the permit supplied by Loughran, he was able to get everything that he needed. The first time at the distributor’s shop, the owner was skeptical of Mike, as he had never met him before.

Just to be sure, the owner called Loughran to check on his identity.

Loughran told him, “Heck yeah, Bob, I sent him over there! Now just give him everything that I had him put on the list of what to buy.”

After hanging up the phone, the distributor cocked his head and said, “Well, you check out all right. What can I get you?” Mike breathed a silent sigh of relief.

On his first trip back to Idaho, Mike picked up a case of 75 percent dynamite and a reel of PETN detonating cord, often called primacord or simply “det. cord,” and a pair of cap crimping pliers. On subsequent trips, Mike purchased electric and fuse type blasting caps, a small hand crank “blasting machine” generator for setting off electric blasting caps, thirty pounds of Composition 4 (C-4) plastic explosive, two additional cases of dynamite, and a twenty-pound roll of Dupont Detasheet C sheet explosive.

Eventually, all of these supplies were carefully transported from Mike and Lisa’s to the retreat in Idaho. Mike gave the Grays specific instructions on storing the materials. The most important thing, he told them, was to store the caps and the bulk explosives at opposite ends of the basement. As long as the basement stayed cool and dry, and the dynamite was up off the floor, there would be no problem with deterioration.

One task that had to be done regularly was rotating the boxes of dynamite. Because Mike’s dynamite was of the variety that had nitroglycerin suspended in diatomaceous earth, it was much more stable than the older variety that had nitroglycerin suspended in sawdust. However, there was still a slight risk that the nitroglycerin could settle and seep out of the casings of the individual sticks. To prevent this, it was simple enough to inspect a few of the sticks, and turn the cases upside down once every three months. So that they wouldn’t lose track of this responsibility, Mary marked a circled red “R” for rotation day in her desk calendar at quarterly intervals.