RIP General Schwarzkopf

General Norman Schwarzkopf, the US Army General who masterminded and led the rescue of Kuwait in 1991 from the occupying Iraqi military died on Dec 27 at the age of 78.

"Stormin' Norman" as he was known to the troops and the media was a hard charging, no nonsense guy who was in the right place at the right time to pull together a coalition force of troops from various nations and pull off a huge victory, obliterating much of Saddam Husein's forces in a "one hundred hours" campaign and chasing the rest back across the Iraq border.

We can only speculate how history might have been changed for the better if that coalition force had been allowed by the various western governments to follow the Iraqi forces into Iraq and finish the job.

General Schwarzkopf wrote his autobiography after the Iraq war, titled, "It Doesn't take a Hero." It is well worth the read.

RIP General Norman Schwarzkopf

Don't Expect the World to End

A lot has been said the past couple of years about the Mayan Calendar coming to an end on December 21, 2012 and other coinciding events such as the alignment of the earth with the center of the galaxy. It reminds me of the last time that predictions were made about the collapse of civilization:
The event on December 31st, 1999 when the century changed from 1900 to  2000--commonly known as Y2K.

The prediction was that computers worldwide had not been programed to recognize the date change, and therefore dates on computerized documents would show "January 1st, 1900" instead of  "January 1st, 2000." Imagine what that would do to computerized calculations, for example in banks, calculating interest on accounts, or in government facilities with scientific calculations involving date and distance, for example. As a computer programmer at the time, I (like most programmers worldwide) spent quite a lot of my time leading up to Y2K ensuring that computer programs were updated to allow for the new century.

Even so, like many people worldwide, I doubted that every line of code in the world would be changed correctly and in time, and so I made some preparations for outages in the national electric grid and other
utilities caused by computer failures, that could affect the supply of electrical power, water, electronic communication, and therefore may result in rioting, delays in food deliveries, lack of emergency services, etc.

Fortunately, on 12/31/1999 nothing much happened. But it did cause me to think about how to survive potentially dangerous incidents that are not as exotic as a worldwide collapse of technology, but are more likely: House fires, terrorist attacks, flu pandemics, hurricanes, earthquakes ... the world has experienced all of these on a fairly frequent basis.

One good thing about the whole Mayan calendar brouhaha is that it causes many people to ask themselves for the first time, "What if?"

What if I was without power, communications, food and water for 48 hours or longer? What if the police knocked at my door and told me I had five minutes to evacuate my home? Do I know what my options are to Shelter in Place (SIP) and ride out an emergency, or to evacuate to avoid one?

Let's use this Mayan calendar discussion as an opportunity to evaluate where we are, what the most likely threats to our well-being are, and what and who we have around us to be able to shelter in place or evacuate if we are ever faced with a more mundane, but more likely event that threatens our well-being.
See you on December 22nd!

John's radio interview with Mark Walters

I recently did an interview on Armed American Radio with host Mark Walters, talking about my book, "Dealing with Danger -- Be Prepared, Aware, and Decisive." 

Mark and I discussed a lot of the principles a person can adopt to be more safe in their everyday life, and  to be better able end each day in the same or better condition than when the day began.

Click here to listen to the interview:
http://armedamericanradio.org/2012/10/10-21-2012-hour-2/#comments

Some Advice on Disaster Preparedness

 It is the season for forest fires and hurricanes. In the southwest part of the United States there have already been some very large, very destructive forest fires. 

Hurricane season on the Atlantic coast runs from June 1st to November 30th, and for the eastern Pacific began on May 15th and also ends on November 30th.

People who live in these affected areas would be wise to have a plan in place to evacuate or bug out of their homes when directed to by emergency and government organizations. if you can pack a bugout bag in advance, that's a good idea.

Here are some useful links on disaster preparedness that you can click on (the last one is my website):

National Hurricane Center

City of Boulder Office of Emergency Management

The Red Cross

John's Junkyard Dog website Safety & Security Tips

The Wild Animal Sanctuary

Went to a wonderful event at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado this weekend. The sanctuary cares for more than 290 Lions, Tigers, Bears, Leopards, Mountain Lions, Wolves and other large carnivores, it is the first sanctuary of its kind to create large acreage species-specific habitats for its rescued animals. This is the organization that rescued 25 African Lions from circus' in Bolivia last year.

More News about Concealed Carry in New Mexico

It seems that the state government in New Mexico is reconsidering its position on reciprocity agreements for  concealed carry permit holders from  other states. The state recently announced that it is conducting an audit to determine which states have laws that are similar enough to New Mexico's concealed carry laws that reciprocity is possible. For the latest statement, and a list of states that New Mexico recognizes reciprocity, click on this link to the New Mexico state government website:

 http://www.dps.nm.org/index.php/nm-concealed-carry/reciprocity-agreements/

Thinking About Visiting New Mexico? Think Again

Visitors to New Mexico who hold a Concealed Weapons permit issued in their home state should know that New Mexico no longer honors Concealed Carry permits from 13 other states.  Here's the link to the state government website that lists which states have been dropped from the list:

New Mexico Reciprocity Agreements

NRA Personal Protection class

Just finished teaching the NRA Personal Protection in the Home class last Saturday as part of a four instructor team. It's a pretty good class and is a good starting point for people who are interested in obtaining their Concealed Carry permit. Forty-nine of the fifty states currently have laws allowing some form of concealed carry of a pistol for self defense (Come on, Illinois ... we're waiting). Topics include firearm safety, marksmanship, explanation of ammunition, use of cover and concealment, plus a lecture from a law enforcement officer or a lawyer on state statutes and use of deadly force and the law. Contact the National Rifle Association for details of classes in your state.