Every military person knows the old axiom, "The more you spend and sweat in training, the less you bleed and lose in war". We have 50 days to go.

I declare next weekend to be a Y2K drill weekend. Note some tests may be dangerous and or illegal but should be done anyway. They are vital.

1. Go to the old first aid kit that's been bouncing around in your car trunk forever. Get bandaids and stick them on every member of your group. Did they stick?

2. light one sample of each of your lighting devices in a differnt room of the house. Chemlights, candles, flashlight, oil lamp, etc. keep a log of how long each burned on one unit of fuel or charge of batteries. Did your flashlight bulb burn out? I have heard they will if you use them continuiously.

3. make a bullet catcher by filling one of your large outside trashcans with damp newspaper. Prop it up sideways on a couple of chairs in your hall or bedroom. In the middle of the night, put a couple of Q-tips in your ears, take your house gun, the one you are willing to bet your life on. Fire 2 shots into your bullet catcher from 3 feet. Did the gun work? How long were you blinded by the powder flash? Were you deafend even with the Q-tips in your ears? Note: if you missed the bullet trap and damaged your house or if the gun/ammo you are using went through 3 feet of damp compressed newspaper, you have flunked the test.

4. Outside, pour out a quart of whatever liquid fuel you have. Lamp oil, kerosene, etc. Light it. This is to simulate a knocked over lamp or camp stove spill. With the oldest fire extinguisher in the house put out the fire. Did the fire extinguisher work? How noisy was it? How much did it kick back when you discharged it? How long did it continue to function? Did you put out the fire?

5. Try above with a small wood fire. Put it out without using a hose or fire extinguisher.

6. Dress in urban camoflage, Khaki, Blue,or black, whatever the utility workers in your area wear. Walk 5 miles in an grid pattern around your home. Carry a clip board. Make a list of things to check for. Take notes of everything of interest. Old folks that may need help. RV,s that have generators, Houses that have swimming pools. For extra points carry the weight of your Bug Out Bag or the bag itself.

7. Eat drink and prepare food from your Y2K stash all weekend. Use your emergency toilet and washing facilities.

This whole test should cost less than $50. Mostly from replacing expended fire extinguishers.

Please suggest other tests.

Please post results of the Drill to this forum on Monday. Don't forget to log and replace expended items.

-- woody (woody11420@aol.com), November 12, 1999

Answers

so what i hear you saying woody, is to burn my house down now instead of during y2k (better now while i can recoup insurance) and to convince my neighbors now i am totally insane by throwing kerosene in my back yard. sounds good. then to tromp around my neighborhood in urban camoflage (i think that is dockers here) to scout things out. hey i really got my aladdin lantern going the other day with flames shooting right out the top--i guess i can do that again.

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), November 12, 1999.

In theory, it pays to check out as much as you can as early as you can. For example, as of this month I am having a meal of day from my de-hydrated food supplies (that TVP isn't bad at all, especially with a little seasong), and anyone who has a generator certainly should be firing it up at least every two weeks and let it run for a few hours.

woody, the problem with some of the things that you recommend is that they may make one a little more conspicuous than needed. Especially since Y2K has indeed become a household word, I think the last thing that you want to do at this late date is anything that would blatantly get people's attention.

49 days.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.~net), November 12, 1999.

correction: Make that "seasoning", not "seasong".

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.~net), November 12, 1999.

I also cannot imagine shooting in one's house unless one were 'way out in the boonies all by oneself! And one would have to be careful of the calibre and whether it would go through a wall and strike someone beyond..."know your target and beyond." I would rather see people practicing at a range than in their homes. Frankly, when I heard a gunshot some months ago, I called 911, and when they asked me how I knew it was a gunshot, I said, "Because I use one at the range." So expect your neighbors to be concerned about foul play if they hear guns going off in your house or environs!!!

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), November 12, 1999.

Deer season starts in Missouri tomorrow. I plan to do some target practice tomorrow morning, nicely camouflaged by other people's guns along with mine. I hadn't even thought about practicing in the dark. . . . EGAD

I'm glad you're not suggesting THIS weekend - it's supposed to be 80 degrees here tomorrow, and I'd really hate firing up the old wood stove when it's that warm. Of course next summer I may not have a choice. Winter (by itself) isn't going to kill me, but summer might! As a result, I'm thinking of building a campfire-type pit (rocks and mortar) and getting a heavy-duty folding grill from Wal-Mart, so at least I can do my cooking outdoors and not heat up my whole house.

Maybe we should test our knowledge of first aid if we're going to do the drill - how to make slings, do CPR, etc. I was disappointed when we took those courses that all they really tell you is what to do until the ambulance gets there - they don't take into account the possibility that the ambulance isn't coming.

If you have two-way radios, those should be tested for whatever distance you can get and find out what kinds of obstacles make communication impossible.

Are you going to unplug your telephone?

Probably not a good idea to unplug your freezer at this point - just don't use anything from it.

And don't use any water from your faucets.

When I've been camping I found having a couple of squeeze bottles (such as the kind your shampoo comes in) came in handy for rinsing hair - you can use a minimum of water when you can direct it to the right place - much less water than if you pour a saucepan of water over your head, because you can move the bottle of water around and rinse pretty much everything. In my case I used two bottles, each around 12 ounces. Put in the cold water first, so when you add the hot water it doesn't melt the plastic bottle.

Actually, I'm not ready to do a full-fledged drill, but I may do it anyway, because the fact is I'm not going to be ready by January 1st. Scares the tar out of me.

-- peg (peg@futureandahope.com), November 12, 1999.

TO cuddlupppy

I thought the first word after #4 was OUTSIDE. A small fire outside can be explained as "burning all the crud off of my barbeque before I put it away for the winter" "cleaning car parts and I had a little accident" Be creative, if you are not, you won't survive.

Camoflage means to blend in. If you dress like you belong there and act like you know what you are doing, you can do anything anywhere. Ask any undercover cop.

To Elaine. You will be fighting at your home, not at the range. Except for some advanced shooting schools, I have never seen a range that could simulate the darkness and closeness of my hall. If you can't hit a 2 foot square target at 3 feet, you should not have a gun. If your shot goes through 3 feet of compressed wet newspaper, you are using a weapon way to powerful for inside buildings. If you don't trust yourself with live ammo, at least use a couple of blanks. Until you have fired a gun in a closed dark space, you don't know what it's like.

To Jack. Always run generator under load. Steam irons and hair dryers will do quite well.Idleing a generator for long periods will kill it.

I used to be in the RV business and I always advised my customers. "Run all your appliances 1 hour per month. Furnaces even in summer, air conditioners even in winter. Keeps things functional and put at least 50 road miles on the chassis.

Inventory your battery stash. do you have enough batteries to replace every devices power twice. not just radios and flashlights but clocks and hearing aids smoke detectors etc.

To Peg look in any of the survival book catalogs www.deltapress.com You want books on gutter/ditch medicine. A good title is "Where there is no doctor". Everyone should have that one. Other good ones are "Ditch Medicine" and "Survivalist's Medicine Chest"

You must practice now while we have a FFF (Fully Funcional Foundation) to fall back on. Next month may be too late.

Don't be conspicuous. But don't think that just because you bought a bunch of stuff, that you know how to use it and that it will work.

-- woody (woody11420@aol.com), November 13, 1999.