Some thoughts about defending your retreat

Lots of cool ideas to make the bags better. I like the cone bag filler. Our plan starts 1/2 mile away from our house at a choke point. A culvert that goes under the road. Both sides are silt bottom muck and swamp. The plan is to pull the enemy in to a three way cross fire and there is no cover. If they have a vehicle they will have to get out and try and remove the obstructions that will be placed in the road and they are anchored into the asphalt by using large steel stakes . They will stop any small to medium truck or passenger vehicle. At that time the vehicle is in range of the 50 cal serbu. and a 338. There are two pits already in place dug several years ago one on each side of the choke. The plan is to put a sand bag reinforced trailer 100 yards from the culvert dead center of the road. two men to each fortification. If we cant stop them there we fall back 400 yards over the next hill to another set of pits and by then hopefully more men are moving up with ammo to that fall back spot. If they think they beat us they will be in for big shock as they come over the hill and find them selves in another killing field. Still 300 yards from the last line which are sandbag pits just out of sight of the house. So two forward ambush defensive lines which fall back to the last stand. Once inside the last 400 yards then the force multipliers come into play. Nail boards, and a host of other nasty surprises. Fake cover, pits, trip wires, you name it. two ways in both heavily defended.

Every military guy who has looked at it tells me it is a good plan. Wont stop a military unit with armored vehicles or air support but against any infantry type scavenger group with a couple pickup trucks we can stop up to 20 maybe 30 men.

The real plus is a forward watch position even further out and good coms. Thanks to Bruce we have good coms. Our forward guy will take a back trail path to his kayak and beat feet back to the house after calling in. We will know the group size and strength long before they get into range. They will have homes to pilfer about a mile out before they even get close to us.

We cant really do any better with the people we have. Like I said we lost a couple and need some new guys. There will be at least two home vacant if there is an exodus south. I have a couple liberal families who will run if shtf. I am hoping for several bug outs to come here. We have the room to house them.

 

I wonder how well having dummies ,looking like armed guards strategically placed so the enemy spends ammo effort in taking them by exposing them self ?
Wired for sound and or ordnance ,any one foolish enough to mess with would expose their ignorance .
A mercury switch is simple enough to rig on a wire to send a signal to security . Radio gear may be obsolete.

 

In the event of EMP or CME radio gear not protected would be lost ,
those with working radio gear however would be at an advantage obviously.
Old style wired microphones however are impervious to EMP .
The technology for running wire is simpler and likely unexpected .

 

I sincerely hope that no one takes that as gospel. In an EMP event, ALL wiring will act as an antenna and will to one extent or another carry destructive voltages and/or currents. "Old style" microphones had and have internal parts that will not react happily to induced voltages.
If anyone is preparing for EMP events, shield your stuff. Period.

 

Does everyone forget that the carrington event caught the wires on fire?!!

 

A lot of things can occur including fire , so if your set up with a back up system your further ahead .

 

The answer if "how often do you check them?".

Long story short a lot of police departments have used such an idea to help stop speeders before. Put a dummy in a marked car and leave it be. Problem is, people eventually wise up to the fact that "person" in a vehicle isn't moving. I recall some stories about the mannequins being put into...indecent poses by those who caught up on the act. So, how often you check on such items you put out is going to determine how effective they would be.

We used them after 9/11 on base and were required to move them around from position to position after dark. We manned others with live personnel. The key is checking them as well as moving them around and replacing them with live personnel as to keep an adversary off balance. Because if bad folks with bad intentions do any kind of recon on your property and they see such a stoic figure that never moves in your defensive works, they would tend to get suspicious about why that person never even scratches their nose. I know if I was going to hit something in a post SHTF world, I'd do a little recon prior to and I'd know either you don't have the manpower you "should" have to properly secure your locale or look a bit closer as to your true numbers.

It's not a bad idea in concept, but such things can and should be checked and moved regularly in order to be effective.

 

They would not have to get up and walk but it would not be difficult to wire them for sight and sound and minor movements .
cameras can be wired to the main surveillance room, and even the surface area can respond to impacts i.e. being shot at .
With as common silencers are and the dummies ability to receive these impacts, one can be alerted via the dummy and not the hard way.

 

I am under no illusion about my ability to defend my place should some roving group decide to pay a visit. It doesn't even have to be a group. A jealous neighbor who is pushed far enough in deteriorating conditions could just snipe me from cover as I go out to work the garden.
Our place is isolated, which is good but at the same time bad. Once someone stumbles onto you, being isolated is a liability. But moving on, our closest neighbor is a half mile away. Other neighbors are in the area but I haven't met many of them since moving here and wouldn't trust any anyway to know of any preparedness we have managed.
We have no 'group', defensive perimeter, traps, etc. I figure it would require a minimum of eight individuals, trained and ready, to both post guards 24/7 while still resting and performing needed work. Its just two of us, and we are aging faster than I like.
We do have intrusion alarms that work very well to give us a few minutes of warning should anyone move in towards the house from the most likely avenues. Our plan is to not be surprised enough to become trapped in the house. The house is just not defensible. We have avenues of escape and gear ready to grab on the way out. Our lives are more important than 'stuff' in the final calculation. Once out, I can make it costly on anyone intending to raid us, and plan on doing so.

 

I think conflicts should take place a long a ways from the BOL, so that it s difficult to reference the two as relevant. In order to do that you need a fire team that irregularly patrols the perimeter .

 

I Like your idea about assuming that you will never have 100% Force at one time which is obviously like a football team preparing. Haven't really thought of that till you mentioned it. Thanks!

 

I get what you're saying but won't the Marauders come anyway whether it looks uninhabited or not?

 

Sounds like it would be a good idea to have a Military Man as part of your retreat. What rank or responsibility in the military would you recommend?

 

Yep, I move "things" after dark, trip wires and trail cameras "might" be some things I move after dark.
Also use trail cameras with remote recorders, if a xpasser finds the sender then they never know how many repeaters you have and if some might be connected to the internet.,
I also leave "bait" with a camera on it. Just recently I lost a pair of gloves left on a farm vehicle the same night I placed it there.
I suspect the thief or thieves got the point of leaving my place as the camera they took had no batteries, no recording chip but the gloves were loaded with fresh squeezed super hot chili peppers.

 

I haven't read all the posts yet in this thread so I apologize in advance if my questions/comments have been discussed.

What do you do if you've stopped the intruder(s) and I'm assuming killed them all to eliminate the threat? Do you bury them where someone won't look for the bodies and then prepare for the second wave looking for them and for how long? I think I'd put a sign on my Perimeter with a Minefield telling them its wired with explosives and they're not welcome no matter what. If for any reason I did let people in they would have to enter the area completely naked to neutralize them carrying weapons. I'd still have several people pointing weapons on them from all angles until they left.

 

been a point of prepper contention for many decades - trouble with a conventional military person is their "soldier value" is one of necessary sacrifice - enlisted pieces of military equipment with two legs ...
the people involved will be relatives & friends - not just a newbie to put on point and accept his death as a cheaper loss ....
think more of a guerilla fighter - unconventional tactics using small or individual manpower ....