Communication

       In any stressful situation communication can be the one thing that can pull you through. Whether you’re in a bad situation and need to bug out or you’ve walked into a confrontation with an unscheduled opponent, communication could be your safety net. Communication is important to anybody no matter their life situation. We use it daily at work and interacting with people around us. It is only through communication that ideas are passes, problems solved and lives saved. Training will help, initiative is great but nothing will get done if there isn’t some sort of initial communication.

       As a newly appointed Watch Commander in charge of a 35 man security team I learned quickly the importance of communication. I was not the typical, hard-nosed, TV-style commander you see running a police force. I was approachable and willing to go the extra mile for the men and women on my team. We worked relatively independent from my supervisors and for that reason alone I needed my guys to tell me what was going on.

       We rarely encountered incidents that required back-up but when they did I knew that I could have my dispatcher quickly call up the nearest team and they could report to the scene to help. We knew which team was closest because they checked in regularly. I knew which patrolmen were on a break or using the restrooms at any given time. All of this was due to our radios and the willingness of our team to communicate. When bad things happened, we were fast to respond. I’m proud to say that our response times and performance was better than the other teams and I would attribute it to the ability to communicate.

Standing Post, 2010

       It was a different situation when people didn’t communicate. There was a time where we had to take on a situation requiring a second set of patrolmen and a supervisor on the scene. I was already en route to the situation but my dispatcher was having trouble getting the nearest team on the radio. I sent my Patrol Supervisor to find them and we found another set of patrolmen to join me at the scene. Luckily the missing patrolmen were nearby their last check in point. We found out that one of the patrolmen had forgot to check his battery and it expired while his partner had mistakenly turned the volume down on his radio. We were able to fix the situation but it could have been bad for those two lone patrolmen waiting on back-up.

       Communication in any form is good but it’s also extremely important to communicate clearly. Our radio communications held strict to a set pattern making it easy to identify the person calling, the intended recipient and the purpose of the call. All of this occurred quickly and clearly. Following some of the confusion that occurred between various law enforcement and rescue crews during September 11^th, 2001 there was a push to halt the use of “10 Codes”. It was a previous system of radio communications, typically utilized by law enforcement to clearly communicate the intent of the call utilizing a code. The actual code was preceded by the number 10 leading to the term “10 codes”.

       Instead of utilizing a standard set of 10 codes set forth by some government branch the push was to use clear speech during radio communications. My opinion was that the 10 Code system was effective but it lacked the breadth required to make it efficient. All law enforcement and rescue crews should have merely adapted to the same system so that any branch, service or crew could listen in and know exactly what was being said. Despite my supervisors encouragement I refused to alter our radio process and continued utilizing the 10 Codes because they minimized radio chatter and the meaning was clear.

       Clarity of speech is important not only to the patrolman or fireman but to the average guy who walks into a bad situation. Misunderstandings can often be quickly and clearly discussed to remove any doubt of nefarious intent. I have avoided a number of fights in my lifetime due to a quick explanation why my opponent shouldn’t fight me. Usually it was a complete misunderstanding. I believe that whether you’re talking with your spouse or running for your life communication not only should be regular but clear and understandable.

       When things hit the fan you’ll want the sound assurance that you know how and when to communicate with your family. Communication often and clearly is the best way to avoid mistakes and escape from trouble when you can’t avoid them.

Winter is Coming

With fall rolling in at full force and winter soon on the horizon you can expect certain environmental changes to occur. The Most obvious changes are temperature drops, leaves falling and the usual rain and snow that accompanies the season. What most people don’t expect are the possibility of flooding, fire or wind, rain and thunder storms. Mother Nature never stops and so it’s good to remember that Preparation shouldn't stop either. Here are a few quick tips to get your winter preparation underway.

1. Food storage – This is something that really applies traditionally to winter time but is something to even think about throughout the year. Ensuring you have enough water and food to last you in case any of the public works fails is essential. The last thing you need is to be in a situation where you've become dependent on them to supply you what you need. We call this a “single point of failure” in the military and it’s a bad situation to be in. Having enough food and water for at least 72 hours is a must and enough for two weeks is ideal. Most public works issues are limited to under two weeks but it couldn't hurt to be more prepared.

2. Heating – Knowing how best to heat your home is essential. A significant chunk of money is spent annually on heating your home and there are a few tips out there that can help lower the cost. If you have a fireplace then having sufficient firewood is always important since this is very easy to find for free on sites like Craigslist.com. Look into high efficient portable heaters to place in the rooms you occupy most. There isn't a huge need to heat the whole house when you spent most of your time in only part of it. Look into homemade/DIY style heaters like my favorite “terracotta pot” heater (instructions for this can be found just by doing a web search). Also ensure that you have curtains that help hold in the heat. Check the attic to ensure you have proper and sufficient insulation. Renew your weather stripping around doors and windows if needed. Sealing up the house might take most of an afternoon but saves you on so many energy costs that makes it plenty worth it.

Terracotta Pot Heater

3. Contingency Planning – Most people think of the first two items but they forget that there are many other things they need plans for. Flooding and fire can occur frequently during fall as the seasons change and precautions should be taken. Have evacuation plans and thoughts of a secondary location if you need to leave for an extended period of time. Inventorying your valuables is one that most people forget. This is not only good in case of burglary but also for insurance purposes. Have a plan for every possible disaster. Most of these plans will look exactly the same but it’s good to consider them each individually.

4. Know your neighbors – I've found great value in knowing your neighbors and I encourage everyone to get to know theirs. There are some people that might live in areas where it’s a little frightening to become close to them. Each situation will be different but knowing who they are, what they do and their willingness level to assist you if you need it is paramount to a complete contingency plan. With a lot of people taking time off to travel during the holidays a good neighbor can help keep an eye on things while you’re gone.

5. Learn – Don’t be afraid to go out and do some research. I don’t believe that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. I think that there is so much that can be learned and so little time to learn it. YouTube.com has become one of my favorite sites to learn about new and innovative ways of taking care of home issues. There are thousands of quick fix and DIY videos on a wide range of topics. Go to the library and pick up some books about any survival and preparation topics.

Being prepared is the best way to have peace of mind over the things you can’t control. By expecting a wide range of possible occurrences you’re diminishing the potential danger to yourself and family. Please comment below about your own winter preparation preferences and what you plan to do this fall before the cold comes.

What Does "Preparedness" Mean? - Physical Fitness

     I can’t speak for everyone when it comes to preparation. There are too many different purposes for their preparation, too many ways of preparing and too many levels of preparation. What I can say about preparation is that I feel that there are certain things that must be maintained in order for you to claim preparation. Having a first aid kit in your bathroom but lacking proper food storage isn’t what I would call prepared. You can’t be a Jack of All Spades if you’re not covering all your bases. The entire reason of adopting the title of Jack of All Spades is that you’re a Jack of All Trades! So the following series of articles are my opinion of what is required before you can claim “prepared”. Having worked on this topic for a while I’m going to start with physical fitness and move onto different topics and how they relate to being prepared. We’ll cover food storage, martial arts, weapons handling, emergency preparedness, and more. Without further ado we began with the essentials in physical fitness. 

     This subject has long been my enemy. I rarely enjoy working out and I have difficulty committing to a regulated exercise schedule. I do find physical activity extremely rewarding when it’s connected to a sport or an outdoor activity but if the requirement is to run on a treadmill for an hour I’d rather sit in front of the TV instead. Let’s face it, most of us are the same way when it comes to getting out and exercising. The issue really is that when something happens and you’ve got to run for 30 minutes non-stop what are you going to do? I cannot think of any incident off hand that might require you to run non-stop for such a long amount of time but the point is that you need to know where you stand physically. I’m not talking martial arts or defending yourself at this point I’m merely describing your ability to perform on a physical level. 

     How much can you lift? How far can you run? How many pull-ups can you perform? Could you lift and carry another person? These are the questions I think of when it comes to my own personal exercise routine. In the military there are differing requirements between men and women however I feel that it is just as necessary for a woman to know how to carry the weight of a person as much as it is for a man. Pull-ups, push-ups and other exercises might more naturally be suited to the male figure but that doesn’t mean that women could match them. Since I see some of these exercises as a set of survival tools I feel that both men and women should be able to execute them. I won’t preach numbers but will leave that up to you and your own abilities. What should be kept in mind when working on these exercises is “how will this help you survive if you need it?” 

     PULL-UPS: One of the most difficult exercises for the average person is pull-ups. Most everyone can execute a single pull-up yet getting a second or even third can prove to me almost impossible. I’ll admit that even my own numbers are small next to the ever-ready Marines that I work with but that doesn’t mean that I don’t try. From my point of view a pull-up is one of the most important because let’s say that you end up hanging from some precarious ledge and the only means of escape is your own strength. Will you be able to execute a single pull-up and pull yourself from the edge? If you can only do one pull-up is that going to be enough when you really need it? These situations will rarely occur but I’d rather be ready with a solid five or six pull-ups under my belt than nothing at all. 

     PUSH-UPS: This is one exercise that I do enjoy. It keeps me awake during long nightshifts at work standing watch and it stirs up endorphins with little effort on my part. The greatest example to how important these could be was depicted in the movie “Batman Begins” where Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, was trapped underneath a burning log and his butler, played by Michael Caine says, “What’s the point of all those bloody push-ups if you can’t even lift a simple log?” Now, Christian Bale was in shape in the movie as we see when he wakes up and drops to the floor to do a handful of push-ups as if they were nothing. The point however is that if you are suddenly trapped by anything whether a burning log or even some rubble from a building, will you have the strength to push it off you? If you’re able to do multiple push-ups then your chances are better.

     SIT-UPS: Let’s all face it, the majority of Americans in general pay little attention to their stomachs. Sit-ups represent the worst in exercising at times because of how difficult it is to start. Your first few might feel great but by thirty or forty you start to feel the burn. I have noticed though that the great thing about sit-ups is that it literally is the easiest to see results with. You can start with thirty sit-ups one day and move up to thirty five the next. By the end of the month you’ve double your number and it gets easier. From the survival stand point it’s simple to understand why sit-ups are important; your core is essential to your movement.  

     Whether you’re simply sitting up or throwing a punch you’re ability to move is anchored by the strength at your core. Push-ups, Pull-ups, even running is easier with a solid core. Remember, this doesn’t mean that you need rock hard abs or even body-builder muscles. You only need the strength. Find what works for you and stick with it. I do sit-ups every day until it burns and then I come back and do it again later. When I was deployed on an Aircraft Carrier I set my watch to go off every hour and I did forty at a time. You decide what’s right for you! 

     RUNNING: My worst enemy; running. It is true that I despise running above all other exercises but I cannot ignore the validity of such a thing. I sincerely believe that at a minimum every person should be able to run a mile without stopping. I feel strongly that a mile is a distance that stretches beyond the average person but still doesn’t require too much work to achieve. No serious training is needed and no special equipment is required; just the desire to go the whole 5,280ft. 

     SWIMMING: I have little advice for swimming since it isn’t something I excel at however I feel that this is as necessary as any other ability. The ability to swim is literally a life or death situation. I don’t know the statistical proof behind it but I would guess that the likelihood of falling expectantly in to water is much more likely than finding yourself hanging for your life on the edge of a cliff. Swim backstroke, freestyle, butterfly or even a solid doggy-paddle but know it and do it well. Don’t be caught without this ability. 

     FLEXIBILTY: I have learned over my years of martial arts that one of the most understated physical feats is the ability to flex to positions that the average person can’t. Although I admire the heroic feats of Jean-Claude Van Damme I don’t think anyone needs to be able to do the splits. What I think is extremely important about this though is that stretching and using those muscles in this way reduces injuries and more importantly keep you primed for action if you need to. If you need to react your muscles are used to working in a way that responds quickly to action. Make an effort in your exercising to not only stretch for your work out to help your muscles but do it to increase flexibility. There are hundreds of websites available about the best ways to achieve Jean-Claude Van Damme status but find the one that’s right for you and work it into your routine. 

     HEALTHY FOOD: I am no an expert, neither do I claim to know more than the average person does about eating healthy so I’m going to leave this topic very simply at: eat healthy. Your body is a machine and the quality of fuel you put into it determines the performance. We all love a little junk food here and there but balancing it with proper nutrition is extremely important. I put nothing but the highest grade of fuel in my motorcycle so why would I do anything less for my body. 

     There are so many reasons and examples of why this sort of commitment is necessary but if I were to list them off I think that we’d be here a while. I’d rather move on to other topics discussing equally important topics. Never underestimate the power your body has. It is, in my honest opinion, the most complex and important machine on the earth and if we are careless in maintaining it the body will fail. Don’t be that guy that is caught unable to protect his family or friends because he has lacked foresight in preparing himself physically.

Prepare or Not to Prepare?

     I understand there has been a while since I've posted and my weekly article isn't so much "weekly" anymore but I've struggling with how best to approach this topic. Since the inception Jack of All Spades, I've had numerous people contact me on social sites and other venues wanting to “friend” me or to follow the Jack of All Spades. The popularity is something I’m excited and grateful for. The only thing that is alarming is that a high number of these individuals are “Doomsday Preppers”. 

     On the grand scale of survivalists there is the slothful couch potato to the left and the Doomsday Prepper towards the right.  This scale paints a very clear picture between doing and not doing. As for Jack of All Spades we fall in a happy middle ground between the two ends. There exist extreme levels of hoarding food and arms, and even larger claims of apocalyptical endings but that is where difference between an Everyday Jack and a Doomsday Prepper lies. An Everyday Jack divides the two groups nearly equally in terms of preparation. Most people’s preparation standards fall on the left side of the scale while the more extreme Preppers fall to the right. 

     The grand difference between the Doomsday Prepper and the Everyday Jack is the purpose behind the preparations. Jack of All Spades prepare for events to either prevent or be ready to cope when they occur. This keeps our life from falling into personal and financial recessions. A Doomsday Prepper does all this because he expects the world to fall and he and those like him will be the only ones left standing. They might claim that inevitable catastrophic failure in government or mankind but they prepare so that they can be left standing when everyone else falls. Everyday Jacks don’t want to be the only ones left standing. We prepare to prevent such disasters if possible and deal with them afterwards if we can’t stop them. 

     Apocalyptical disasters might stand a credible chance of happening but the likelihood is much less than the ones we prepare for as Everyday Jacks. Using your efforts to prepare for a flood or fire is much more productive than preparing for nuclear war or alien invasion. I don’t want to degrade those that prepare to such extremes because many of their techniques and processes are enlightening and available to those that want to learn. I have learned many things from them and encourage everyone who wants to learn “pre-modern world” techniques to seek out this information. 

     Not all Doomsday Preppers are bad either. There are varying degrees of preparation and some of them only prepare “just in case” but Jack of All Spades does not prepare for the end of the world. There are too many other things to worry about throughout our normal lives and too many things that we can do now to prevent those far off disasters from happening. There might be a day that government failure will be more likely. When those odds become more likely Jack of All Spades will be ready to start offering advice, but until that point take care of your family, your friends and your community so that we as a people are better. Prepare for muggings, rape, kidnapping, home invasion, credit card fraud, terrorism and international dangers when at home or abroad, natural disasters and even personal and public medical emergencies. All of these things and more will be the end of us if we don’t stand together as Everyday Jacks and Everyday Jills against the evil that is presented to us. 

     Jack of All Spades is a community based on the principles of knowing the danger, training for them, and then providing an ever-evolving safety net of friends and teachers. We’re not a remote commune of people waiting for the world to end. If we are anything, we’re a group of people preventing the world from ending. Is it not true what Albert Einstein once said, “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing”?

     Spend your time and money on things to improve the situation and not wait for it to get worse. Running from the problems will only make it worse when you try to step back into the situation. To be clear, Jack of All Spades is not a community of Doomsday Preppers. Think Jack of All Spades as a neighborhood watch for the United States. We know the threats, we’re trained for them, and we share our knowledge among ourselves to better our preparedness. No longer will we stand still as danger approaches because we’ll see it approaching and have a plan to combat it.