SurvivalRing Update....The Past...and The Future...
Hi friends,
I hope everyone receiving this email had a great Christmas holiday, and I hope your New Years celebrations bring you much to look forward to for the rest of the year. With the past few months, we have had danger and death, threats and smaller attacks, but at the same time incredible response and resolution by our friends and neighbors to victims and their families. I hope we can continue to see more of latter, and less of the former.
The past year produced some of the most horrible scenes the world has ever met...and some of the greatest as a result. 09.11.01 will be etched for all time and eternity as the turning point of this great nation of the United States of America, regarding the need for REAL security for our borders, our leadership, our communities, and our families. Almost 4000 thousand Americans and visitors to our nation died in the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and the aircraft that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of public safety personel gave their lives trying to save others. Tens of thousands of other Americans turned out to help recover the victims and casualties at Ground Zero, and many hundreds are working around the clock still, over a hundred days after the disaster, continuing to sift for remains and personal belongings, to return whatever is found to families still waiting in limbo.
Tens of millions of dollars of donations have been given freely from individuals all over the world to help families of those lost, and congress last week released details to the nation about how fdonations would be dispersed to the families. Those that lost loved ones will have their futures helped immensely by the outpouring of love shown by those of us on the outside looking in.
The most amazing things have been both big and little. Hardly anyone alive on September 11th could have missed the massive amount of coverage produced around the clock by ALL the worlds news media. I don't think a single individual who saw, either live, or on tape, the planes crash into the towers, or the towers crumble to the ground, will EVER be the same. The incredible magnitude of the destruction...the unbelievable turns of events...the courage shown by those who escaped the towers...and the courage of those who stayed behind or ran in to help and rescue others.. What love for fellow man...what bravery in the face of absolute danger and most certain death....what immense care the world has shown in the shadow of truly the most repulsive evil yet to exist on this planet...it all is almost too much to fathom. What can ever top these events and raise the tide of the future to top this outpouring of warmth and loving spirits to help one another.....or cold, calculated, steely resolve to cleanse the world of the demons that brought forth this hell on earth? Whatever it is....it will be breathtaking to behold, and most assuredly more dangerous to humankind than we can yet imagine.
Everyone within view of televisions, earshot of radios, or passing another person on the sidewalk ANYWHERE in the world would have heard what happened within 24 hours of the event, thanks to the very human need to share tragic news, followed by sympathy in any way they could.. Even in remote sections of the world, news coming from shortwave raced across countrysides by travelers and word spread of the immense level of the tragedy. And as the news spread, support from such places raced back the other way. The world stopped on that day...and became one...even for a little while.
As with every year, as it comes to a close, news folks look back and discuss how things went. In every single case, Ground Zero Day is THE leading event that happened this year, and may be the single most important event of this young century. Such a massive attack on innocents, by such a small and clearly dangerous group of people, for absolutely no reason but PERSONAL vendettas. The "war on terrorism" has done much to cripple the networks used to deal out death so easily. And while those almost 4000 people died in the initial attacks on US soil, MILLIONS of Afghani people are now FREE...out from under the crippling and dangerous Taliban regime that instigated the attacks in the first place.
Good has returned to the world again, yet much work is yet to be done. The war still has a long way to go, and worldwide, recovery of damaged economies will take years to complete. Changes to freedoms enjoyed before Ground Zero Day are something that will also tighten as time goes on. Freedom to travel has been severely crippled for those who use the nation's airlines. Intense scrutiny of EVERY traveler through airports has cost billions of dollars of income, countless hours of waiting in long lines, and loss of personal freedoms like this nation has NEVER seen since its inception. Invasive personal searches and patdowns, the ability to do formerly illegal searches and seizures passed by presidential proclamation and executive orders, biometric recording of individuals WITHOUT reason or warrant, using millions of video cameras and the latest high tech computer technology in areas of mass populations, including airports, malls, football stadiums and the like...all to help with the 'fight against terrorism'.
"Carnivore" and "Echelon" computer systems used by the FBI and NSA have the power to digitally extract from the streams of terabytes of data ANYTHING considered a threat. They can trap and report ANY threats, thoughts, or ideas sent via the web, or phone lines used by computers in any way. This only helps to strengthen the belief that Big Brother finally exists in its long feared, often suggested state. Visits to people across the nation by federal agents, are being reported by individuals for reasons as simple as not liking some specific part or action of government..and having that "conversation" reported to authorities by worried individuals...are occuring with alarming frequency.
At what point in all of this does "urban legend" actually become "truth and the American way"? What will it take to push those who fear government over the edge, even more than before? At what point will those who call themselves "anarchists" actually go over that very same edge, and become domestic terrorists themselves, for their "own special causes"? We as a nation have seen the threats grow the past decade from those who linger on that fence of sanity called "social activists". These are folks that take it on for themselves to act to right a "wrong" that they feel must be fixed NOW. Whether it is PETA freeing animals from a laboratory or farm, or Greenpeace sinking a boat or damaging equipment, or tree huggers spiking trees or destroying heavy equipment in the fields or burning down ski lodges, or any of a number of other groups or individuals bring death, destruction, or pain to those THEY feel deserve it....ALL of them are going to wind up responding in even more illogical ways, should the current trends continue.
Now you may be asking yourselves at this point...."what does ALL THE ABOVE have to do with me? I'm just a lil' old country bumpkin working my buns off everyday at the factory/retail store/office/school/(insert American Job Here). I just want to bring home a paycheck, buy food, pay rent, drive my car, and have a little fun on the weekends."
I agree with you....that is my goal in life, too. That is....to start with. I have many other things I am doing with my life as well, beyond those basics. I won't bore you with them here...but I could ( ask my kids ).
Problem is, the war on terror has been delivered to our virtual doorsteps, thanks to Osama and his cohorts. It IS personal. What can "possibly" happen to us, in theory, is a whole lot closer than ever before, in actual fact. The use of anthrax on postal mail in the eastern seaboard has killed less than half a dozen people, yet made hundreds of Americans ill. Being a retired letter carrier, and seeing that THAT would have put me on the front lines in this invisible war of germs, truly puts the fear into me that MOST of you reading this can not truly fathom without much time spent studying the events that have occurred. How would YOU like to go to work one day, handle one SINGLE item in your workplace ( such as a first class letter ) and DIE because of it. Two postal workers did.
The latest news on the subject suggests that the anthrax attacks probably originated with genetic anthrax material originating in US labs....a very disturbing thought. Following up on this line of thinking, could this possible mean that AMERICANS, however schizophrenic and disturbed, released the germs in sync with EXTERNAL attacks? If so, are they working with the attackers, or in spite of them? Besides missing catching the murderers behind the attacks on September 11th, by missing or misreading intell material or data at ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT ( CIA, FBI, NSA, and any other number of "alphabet agencies"), what are they STILL not understanding....what are they missing...and what are they maybe even behind?
As part of my continuing research on civil defense material, including a LOT of historical stuff, I have come across files that blow my mind to think of as being "real"...meaning they were created for the reasons intended...to DOCUMENT real events, real planning, and real goals...and not to create propaganda to divert people into thinking something else was going on than really was. One of the things continually coming up on many email lists I am on keeps "alerting" folks that maybe, just maybe, denizens of "the dark side" of our bureacracy created this event to bring about the so-called "one world odor"...I mean, "one world order". Personally, I think this is hogwash. Yes, really.
But then, I come across a document that is dated March 13th, 1962...with the words "top secret special handing NoForn" across the top of the page, marked out...the section below it stamped "Unclassified", the Seal of the Departement of Defense on the left upper side, the letterhead signifying "the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, DC", addressed to the "Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense", and the subject stated as "Justification for the US military intervention in Cuba (TS)". This is a PDF file, digitized document, 778 kilobytes in size, 15 pages long, found because of a mention in an email list. What is special about this document, among all the tens of thousands of documents to be found in online and personal searches in libraries and repositories? The mention of MANY ways that the US could "simulate" or "actualize" terrorist events, and blame them on secondary parties, as a means to turn public opinions against those same secondary parties, and result in political victories, for whatever reason ( most presumably personal profit for some small group of political honchoes ).
Amazing is the detail and visualization that is in this short document. Worrisome is the fact that is just "might" be authentic. Troubling is the thought that history has truly shown that leaders of some governments in real world history have actually done things such as this. Disastrous and catastrophic are the words that come to mind if what has recently happened on American soil is a result of the same kind of disturbed thought processes that created the document mentioned above, and that our own people just "might" have done this to our own citizens. Again, I *still* think it is all hogwash....but stranger things HAVE happened.
But back to our little group of "Real Americans". Yes...you, me, our families, our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, and anybody else that comes and goes through our own, personal, little bitty "spheres of influence". In your busy lives, going to work, coming home, buying groceries, washing the cars, the clothes, the kids, and the dogs....how can some evil person on the other side of the globe hurt me? Why would they? What would they gain? How could they find *me*? Interesting thoughts...titillating conversations...maybe a little bit of personal concern...and then it passes. You continue your merry little lives until the evening news brings details of the NEXT terrorist attack somewhere on the planet...or somewhere in America....or somewhere in your town. You, at some point in all of this, finally *know* somebody who is personally affected in one of the attacks...somewhere...somehow.
NOW IT IS PERSONAL.....FOR YOU.
Is this the time you finally decide to act...to prepare...to study...and to make some changes in your life, knowing that what used to be a passing thought, on those days you actually took time to just "sit and think...of many things", is now something that is an everyday thing to think of in your passage through this world? Do you go buy some food storage supplies...a water filter...some survival manuals...shelter information...medical response and first aid books...a shortwave radio...a police scanner...a gun, or guns....lots of ammo....a gas mask.....or more? Any of the above? ALL of the above? Where do you start...and where do you stop?
How DO you respond to a threat that may, or may not ACTUALLY, PHYSICALLY affect you? Will yours be a knee jerk reaction to a gut based fear of death? Will it be a measured response to threats yet to materialize in your neighborhood, yet still very possible? Or will it simply be study, a little deep research, and then filing away of details and contacts...just in case for the future?
The past has shown us, all too clearly, what can happen when defenses and protective measures go down, fail, or just outright AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH. With every bit of the security, hardware, military, intelligence gathering capability, and more that the US has to offer, we STILL suffered the single greatest terrorist disaster in WORLD HISTORY....on our HOMELAND.
What has to be done is slowly unfolding in many needed and unique areas. Some are being done by the government, as they should be...but probably not enough. The Office of Homeland Security is one, although for the time being it is NOT bringing the average man on the street into the loop. Smaller organistions such as the ANSER INSTITUTE and other thinktanks are researching national security issues and consequenses in much deeper levels than before, and will delve into issues much more then the government will, and then share their knowledge with those lucky enough, or more probably determined enough, to dig thru the web and look for it.
The best solutions for ALL of us in this nation of 280 million Americans is a grassroots agenda that gets right down to our level.of living. Currently there exists tens of thousands of TRAINED individuals on our soil who are familiar with the effects of nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological threats, and their uses by terrorists ( either individuals or nations). These folks have had the best training that money can buy, know what to look for, how to prepare, how to defend, and how to help others stay safe. You may know some of them without knowing what they know. You may be lucky enough to call some of them your friends, neighbors, and maybe even FAMILY.
I am talking about MILITARY VETERANS. These guys and gals have spent weeks and months training over the years for all possible aspects of war, including NBC threats. Some may even SPECIALIZE in NBC warfare (offensive AND defensive). What they can share with the rest of us, and should in every way, is how WE can stay safe, prepare, and maybe even train OTHERS to know what to look for and what to avoid. Most will consider it a duty to help their fellow man, and will do all they can.
Some are currently working on a grassroots level to prepare a training manual and document for public consumption, and after that, get volunteers across the nation to introduce the manual and cover basic training and preparedness techniques in communities in every locale. I am proud to be sponsoring this group on my website, in the SurvivalRing BBS. It is doing quite well, and is going to be ready soon.
Another area that is helping the grassroots goals of sharing information is providing access to it, with all the many preparedness possibilities. Shelters and technology, threat assessment, nuclear and radiological safety, rescue and recovery information, and a myriad of other items within these domains have been produced by agencies of federal governments WORLDWIDE over the last few decades. Most of it was hidden, buried away in region library repositories, sitting in basements of courthouses, federal buildings, warehouses, basements, garages, or worse. Others were available, but only to local citizens, and not to the world. And finally, NONE of it had been collected, studied, collated, and DIGITIZED to share with the larger group we have come to know as MANKIND.
Having contacts in certain areas let small groups of individuals within certain circles get their hands on this material, but only for planning purposes, some training, and in many cases, historical interest only. Not nearly enough was being done to share with EVERYONE wanting to learn EVERYTHING they could on the full spectrum of preparedness issues.
Guess what? Yours truly has broken thru this wall of silence, this vaccuum of inaccessibility, this sad excuse for NOT being prepared. As I have mentioned many times the past few months, I have incredible resources and documents of ALL of the above here in my presence. I have stacks of ORIGINAL documents from the US, Canada, Switzerland, England, Norway, Singapore, and OTHER national and INTERNATIONAL federal Civil Defense Agencies.
I have MANY books on the cold war, nuclear war, medical aspects, and other areas of preparedness things that most folks don't even know exist. I have the hardware now, ALL of it, to produce digitized documents and images of ALL that I have, with a powerful laptop, a PORTABLE full page flatbed scanner, pocket sized mini digital camera, and cd rom burner. I have software( after all this time of planning, learning, and getting ready ) to produce full blown acrobat PDF files of the above documents, webpages, 3-d graphics, VRML virtual reality files for shelters, and much more....all to help with ABSOLUTELY ANY ASPECT of shelters, preparedness, and more. I have 350 megabytes of ONLINE webspace storage for as much as I can get uploaded to my website for you to download.
I also have over 1.5 gigabytes of preparedness files, reports, documents, military field manuals, NBC preparedness files, FEMA files, Red Cross files, preparedness software, and more....IN MY POSSESSION NOW.
In other words, I have my work cut out for me....and you. With time, I will have the greatest civil defense resource website EVER to exist on the internet. I will have my documents scanned in, online, and downloable for the WORLD, not just you. I will have FREE information created at TAXPAYERS expense YEARS ago, historically archived and documented for all time and eternity. And I will keep adding to it and producing for it for as long as I live ( which I know is going to be a VERY long time).
Why am I doing this? Because I can. Because somebody needs to. Because nobody else has. And because you want it....you need it...and you deserve to have access to every iota of survival data that exists in this world of continuously growing threats and disasters.
Having access to ALL the information above gives YOU the power to make your futures, prepare your families, and KNOW EXACTLY what to do if (and when) the next terrorist of WHATEVER nationality or "Jihad Of The Day" visits your city or neighborhood, football stadium or shopping mall, and wreaks terroristic havoc far and wide. Having access to GOOD material is what will keep you and yours safe. The only catch is YOU have to take the time to read it, study it, understand it, and then SHARE it far and wide. The first part isn't worth a damn if you don't follow thru with the second part. Of all the time in recorded history of this world, NEVER has it been so easy to learn from the BEST sources, almost instantly....and freely. Take advantage of the current paradigm...how it all comes together for you now, and GET WHAT YOU CAN, WHILE YOU CAN.
If you have materials, skills, articles, documents, books, videos, or ANYTHING civil defense preparedness in nature, PLEASE consider sharing it with me for this project. Contact info is available on my website.
I am finally getting some help from folks nationwide as well, SPECIFIC to the goals of creating this incredible resource of information and techical assistance. Packages of docs, files and page scans of info, help scanning in originals, and some small donations of cash are making ALL of this possible.
My thanks to all of you for your interest and support, and specifically the following folks for their wonderful help in PRODUCING the work so far...
Jay Griffin - Lander, Wyoming (scanning docs, specifically the FULL 130 page FEMA book, Risk and Hazards State By State - 12.8 meg PDF)
Jerry Paquette - West Union, Ohio ( scanned page images of the FEMA book, Radiation Safety in Shelters)
Jim Green - Boston, Mass ( donation of original materials including
Technical Standards for Fallout Shelter Design, DOD #TM72-1
Design of Structures to Resist Nuclear Weapons Effects, ASCE #42
Suggested Building Code Provisions for Fallout Shelters, DOD Office of Civil Defense #TR-36
Wind Resistant Design Concepts for residences, DCPA #TR-83
Living with Radiation, AEC
Protective Construction in a Nuclear Age, The RAND Corporation)
Arnold Jagt - Oregon ( shared the full digital version of NUCLEAR WAR SURVIVAL SKILLS he created for Art Robinson and OISM)
ALL the folks who gave donations for the site costs in the webhost changeover, and more.
Friends, there is SO much to be done, by all of us. Last year proved to us, and the world, that evil still exists, and ALL levels of preparedness MUST be taught and shared. Lives ARE at stake...every single day. You and I are the first defenses to protection and safety of our families. Be an active participant in your future, and consider, ALWAYS, the bigger, community picture. We are IN this world, and OF this world, and we MUST take responsibility for what we do or don't do. Don't let failure to follow thru be your epitaph. Leave the world better, and safer, then it was when you got here. Use the tools and info available here and else where to do it with.
I hope this little rant and info within helps you in some way, and I will be glad to continue assisting everyone via email. You know where to find me.
Richard Fleetwood
Founder - SurvivalRing, Civil Defense Now, and The Blast Shelter
http://www.survivalring.org
January 2, 2002
Hi friends,
I hope everyone receiving this email had a great Christmas holiday, and I hope your New Years celebrations bring you much to look forward to for the rest of the year. With the past few months, we have had danger and death, threats and smaller attacks, but at the same time incredible response and resolution by our friends and neighbors to victims and their families. I hope we can continue to see more of latter, and less of the former.
The past year produced some of the most horrible scenes the world has ever met...and some of the greatest as a result. 09.11.01 will be etched for all time and eternity as the turning point of this great nation of the United States of America, regarding the need for REAL security for our borders, our leadership, our communities, and our families. Almost 4000 thousand Americans and visitors to our nation died in the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and the aircraft that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of public safety personel gave their lives trying to save others. Tens of thousands of other Americans turned out to help recover the victims and casualties at Ground Zero, and many hundreds are working around the clock still, over a hundred days after the disaster, continuing to sift for remains and personal belongings, to return whatever is found to families still waiting in limbo.
Tens of millions of dollars of donations have been given freely from individuals all over the world to help families of those lost, and congress last week released details to the nation about how fdonations would be dispersed to the families. Those that lost loved ones will have their futures helped immensely by the outpouring of love shown by those of us on the outside looking in.
The most amazing things have been both big and little. Hardly anyone alive on September 11th could have missed the massive amount of coverage produced around the clock by ALL the worlds news media. I don't think a single individual who saw, either live, or on tape, the planes crash into the towers, or the towers crumble to the ground, will EVER be the same. The incredible magnitude of the destruction...the unbelievable turns of events...the courage shown by those who escaped the towers...and the courage of those who stayed behind or ran in to help and rescue others.. What love for fellow man...what bravery in the face of absolute danger and most certain death....what immense care the world has shown in the shadow of truly the most repulsive evil yet to exist on this planet...it all is almost too much to fathom. What can ever top these events and raise the tide of the future to top this outpouring of warmth and loving spirits to help one another.....or cold, calculated, steely resolve to cleanse the world of the demons that brought forth this hell on earth? Whatever it is....it will be breathtaking to behold, and most assuredly more dangerous to humankind than we can yet imagine.
Everyone within view of televisions, earshot of radios, or passing another person on the sidewalk ANYWHERE in the world would have heard what happened within 24 hours of the event, thanks to the very human need to share tragic news, followed by sympathy in any way they could.. Even in remote sections of the world, news coming from shortwave raced across countrysides by travelers and word spread of the immense level of the tragedy. And as the news spread, support from such places raced back the other way. The world stopped on that day...and became one...even for a little while.
As with every year, as it comes to a close, news folks look back and discuss how things went. In every single case, Ground Zero Day is THE leading event that happened this year, and may be the single most important event of this young century. Such a massive attack on innocents, by such a small and clearly dangerous group of people, for absolutely no reason but PERSONAL vendettas. The "war on terrorism" has done much to cripple the networks used to deal out death so easily. And while those almost 4000 people died in the initial attacks on US soil, MILLIONS of Afghani people are now FREE...out from under the crippling and dangerous Taliban regime that instigated the attacks in the first place.
Good has returned to the world again, yet much work is yet to be done. The war still has a long way to go, and worldwide, recovery of damaged economies will take years to complete. Changes to freedoms enjoyed before Ground Zero Day are something that will also tighten as time goes on. Freedom to travel has been severely crippled for those who use the nation's airlines. Intense scrutiny of EVERY traveler through airports has cost billions of dollars of income, countless hours of waiting in long lines, and loss of personal freedoms like this nation has NEVER seen since its inception. Invasive personal searches and patdowns, the ability to do formerly illegal searches and seizures passed by presidential proclamation and executive orders, biometric recording of individuals WITHOUT reason or warrant, using millions of video cameras and the latest high tech computer technology in areas of mass populations, including airports, malls, football stadiums and the like...all to help with the 'fight against terrorism'.
"Carnivore" and "Echelon" computer systems used by the FBI and NSA have the power to digitally extract from the streams of terabytes of data ANYTHING considered a threat. They can trap and report ANY threats, thoughts, or ideas sent via the web, or phone lines used by computers in any way. This only helps to strengthen the belief that Big Brother finally exists in its long feared, often suggested state. Visits to people across the nation by federal agents, are being reported by individuals for reasons as simple as not liking some specific part or action of government..and having that "conversation" reported to authorities by worried individuals...are occuring with alarming frequency.
At what point in all of this does "urban legend" actually become "truth and the American way"? What will it take to push those who fear government over the edge, even more than before? At what point will those who call themselves "anarchists" actually go over that very same edge, and become domestic terrorists themselves, for their "own special causes"? We as a nation have seen the threats grow the past decade from those who linger on that fence of sanity called "social activists". These are folks that take it on for themselves to act to right a "wrong" that they feel must be fixed NOW. Whether it is PETA freeing animals from a laboratory or farm, or Greenpeace sinking a boat or damaging equipment, or tree huggers spiking trees or destroying heavy equipment in the fields or burning down ski lodges, or any of a number of other groups or individuals bring death, destruction, or pain to those THEY feel deserve it....ALL of them are going to wind up responding in even more illogical ways, should the current trends continue.
Now you may be asking yourselves at this point...."what does ALL THE ABOVE have to do with me? I'm just a lil' old country bumpkin working my buns off everyday at the factory/retail store/office/school/(insert American Job Here). I just want to bring home a paycheck, buy food, pay rent, drive my car, and have a little fun on the weekends."
I agree with you....that is my goal in life, too. That is....to start with. I have many other things I am doing with my life as well, beyond those basics. I won't bore you with them here...but I could ( ask my kids ).
Problem is, the war on terror has been delivered to our virtual doorsteps, thanks to Osama and his cohorts. It IS personal. What can "possibly" happen to us, in theory, is a whole lot closer than ever before, in actual fact. The use of anthrax on postal mail in the eastern seaboard has killed less than half a dozen people, yet made hundreds of Americans ill. Being a retired letter carrier, and seeing that THAT would have put me on the front lines in this invisible war of germs, truly puts the fear into me that MOST of you reading this can not truly fathom without much time spent studying the events that have occurred. How would YOU like to go to work one day, handle one SINGLE item in your workplace ( such as a first class letter ) and DIE because of it. Two postal workers did.
The latest news on the subject suggests that the anthrax attacks probably originated with genetic anthrax material originating in US labs....a very disturbing thought. Following up on this line of thinking, could this possible mean that AMERICANS, however schizophrenic and disturbed, released the germs in sync with EXTERNAL attacks? If so, are they working with the attackers, or in spite of them? Besides missing catching the murderers behind the attacks on September 11th, by missing or misreading intell material or data at ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT ( CIA, FBI, NSA, and any other number of "alphabet agencies"), what are they STILL not understanding....what are they missing...and what are they maybe even behind?
As part of my continuing research on civil defense material, including a LOT of historical stuff, I have come across files that blow my mind to think of as being "real"...meaning they were created for the reasons intended...to DOCUMENT real events, real planning, and real goals...and not to create propaganda to divert people into thinking something else was going on than really was. One of the things continually coming up on many email lists I am on keeps "alerting" folks that maybe, just maybe, denizens of "the dark side" of our bureacracy created this event to bring about the so-called "one world odor"...I mean, "one world order". Personally, I think this is hogwash. Yes, really.
But then, I come across a document that is dated March 13th, 1962...with the words "top secret special handing NoForn" across the top of the page, marked out...the section below it stamped "Unclassified", the Seal of the Departement of Defense on the left upper side, the letterhead signifying "the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, DC", addressed to the "Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense", and the subject stated as "Justification for the US military intervention in Cuba (TS)". This is a PDF file, digitized document, 778 kilobytes in size, 15 pages long, found because of a mention in an email list. What is special about this document, among all the tens of thousands of documents to be found in online and personal searches in libraries and repositories? The mention of MANY ways that the US could "simulate" or "actualize" terrorist events, and blame them on secondary parties, as a means to turn public opinions against those same secondary parties, and result in political victories, for whatever reason ( most presumably personal profit for some small group of political honchoes ).
Amazing is the detail and visualization that is in this short document. Worrisome is the fact that is just "might" be authentic. Troubling is the thought that history has truly shown that leaders of some governments in real world history have actually done things such as this. Disastrous and catastrophic are the words that come to mind if what has recently happened on American soil is a result of the same kind of disturbed thought processes that created the document mentioned above, and that our own people just "might" have done this to our own citizens. Again, I *still* think it is all hogwash....but stranger things HAVE happened.
But back to our little group of "Real Americans". Yes...you, me, our families, our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, and anybody else that comes and goes through our own, personal, little bitty "spheres of influence". In your busy lives, going to work, coming home, buying groceries, washing the cars, the clothes, the kids, and the dogs....how can some evil person on the other side of the globe hurt me? Why would they? What would they gain? How could they find *me*? Interesting thoughts...titillating conversations...maybe a little bit of personal concern...and then it passes. You continue your merry little lives until the evening news brings details of the NEXT terrorist attack somewhere on the planet...or somewhere in America....or somewhere in your town. You, at some point in all of this, finally *know* somebody who is personally affected in one of the attacks...somewhere...somehow.
NOW IT IS PERSONAL.....FOR YOU.
Is this the time you finally decide to act...to prepare...to study...and to make some changes in your life, knowing that what used to be a passing thought, on those days you actually took time to just "sit and think...of many things", is now something that is an everyday thing to think of in your passage through this world? Do you go buy some food storage supplies...a water filter...some survival manuals...shelter information...medical response and first aid books...a shortwave radio...a police scanner...a gun, or guns....lots of ammo....a gas mask.....or more? Any of the above? ALL of the above? Where do you start...and where do you stop?
How DO you respond to a threat that may, or may not ACTUALLY, PHYSICALLY affect you? Will yours be a knee jerk reaction to a gut based fear of death? Will it be a measured response to threats yet to materialize in your neighborhood, yet still very possible? Or will it simply be study, a little deep research, and then filing away of details and contacts...just in case for the future?
The past has shown us, all too clearly, what can happen when defenses and protective measures go down, fail, or just outright AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH. With every bit of the security, hardware, military, intelligence gathering capability, and more that the US has to offer, we STILL suffered the single greatest terrorist disaster in WORLD HISTORY....on our HOMELAND.
What has to be done is slowly unfolding in many needed and unique areas. Some are being done by the government, as they should be...but probably not enough. The Office of Homeland Security is one, although for the time being it is NOT bringing the average man on the street into the loop. Smaller organistions such as the ANSER INSTITUTE and other thinktanks are researching national security issues and consequenses in much deeper levels than before, and will delve into issues much more then the government will, and then share their knowledge with those lucky enough, or more probably determined enough, to dig thru the web and look for it.
The best solutions for ALL of us in this nation of 280 million Americans is a grassroots agenda that gets right down to our level.of living. Currently there exists tens of thousands of TRAINED individuals on our soil who are familiar with the effects of nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological threats, and their uses by terrorists ( either individuals or nations). These folks have had the best training that money can buy, know what to look for, how to prepare, how to defend, and how to help others stay safe. You may know some of them without knowing what they know. You may be lucky enough to call some of them your friends, neighbors, and maybe even FAMILY.
I am talking about MILITARY VETERANS. These guys and gals have spent weeks and months training over the years for all possible aspects of war, including NBC threats. Some may even SPECIALIZE in NBC warfare (offensive AND defensive). What they can share with the rest of us, and should in every way, is how WE can stay safe, prepare, and maybe even train OTHERS to know what to look for and what to avoid. Most will consider it a duty to help their fellow man, and will do all they can.
Some are currently working on a grassroots level to prepare a training manual and document for public consumption, and after that, get volunteers across the nation to introduce the manual and cover basic training and preparedness techniques in communities in every locale. I am proud to be sponsoring this group on my website, in the SurvivalRing BBS. It is doing quite well, and is going to be ready soon.
Another area that is helping the grassroots goals of sharing information is providing access to it, with all the many preparedness possibilities. Shelters and technology, threat assessment, nuclear and radiological safety, rescue and recovery information, and a myriad of other items within these domains have been produced by agencies of federal governments WORLDWIDE over the last few decades. Most of it was hidden, buried away in region library repositories, sitting in basements of courthouses, federal buildings, warehouses, basements, garages, or worse. Others were available, but only to local citizens, and not to the world. And finally, NONE of it had been collected, studied, collated, and DIGITIZED to share with the larger group we have come to know as MANKIND.
Having contacts in certain areas let small groups of individuals within certain circles get their hands on this material, but only for planning purposes, some training, and in many cases, historical interest only. Not nearly enough was being done to share with EVERYONE wanting to learn EVERYTHING they could on the full spectrum of preparedness issues.
Guess what? Yours truly has broken thru this wall of silence, this vaccuum of inaccessibility, this sad excuse for NOT being prepared. As I have mentioned many times the past few months, I have incredible resources and documents of ALL of the above here in my presence. I have stacks of ORIGINAL documents from the US, Canada, Switzerland, England, Norway, Singapore, and OTHER national and INTERNATIONAL federal Civil Defense Agencies.
I have MANY books on the cold war, nuclear war, medical aspects, and other areas of preparedness things that most folks don't even know exist. I have the hardware now, ALL of it, to produce digitized documents and images of ALL that I have, with a powerful laptop, a PORTABLE full page flatbed scanner, pocket sized mini digital camera, and cd rom burner. I have software( after all this time of planning, learning, and getting ready ) to produce full blown acrobat PDF files of the above documents, webpages, 3-d graphics, VRML virtual reality files for shelters, and much more....all to help with ABSOLUTELY ANY ASPECT of shelters, preparedness, and more. I have 350 megabytes of ONLINE webspace storage for as much as I can get uploaded to my website for you to download.
I also have over 1.5 gigabytes of preparedness files, reports, documents, military field manuals, NBC preparedness files, FEMA files, Red Cross files, preparedness software, and more....IN MY POSSESSION NOW.
In other words, I have my work cut out for me....and you. With time, I will have the greatest civil defense resource website EVER to exist on the internet. I will have my documents scanned in, online, and downloable for the WORLD, not just you. I will have FREE information created at TAXPAYERS expense YEARS ago, historically archived and documented for all time and eternity. And I will keep adding to it and producing for it for as long as I live ( which I know is going to be a VERY long time).
Why am I doing this? Because I can. Because somebody needs to. Because nobody else has. And because you want it....you need it...and you deserve to have access to every iota of survival data that exists in this world of continuously growing threats and disasters.
Having access to ALL the information above gives YOU the power to make your futures, prepare your families, and KNOW EXACTLY what to do if (and when) the next terrorist of WHATEVER nationality or "Jihad Of The Day" visits your city or neighborhood, football stadium or shopping mall, and wreaks terroristic havoc far and wide. Having access to GOOD material is what will keep you and yours safe. The only catch is YOU have to take the time to read it, study it, understand it, and then SHARE it far and wide. The first part isn't worth a damn if you don't follow thru with the second part. Of all the time in recorded history of this world, NEVER has it been so easy to learn from the BEST sources, almost instantly....and freely. Take advantage of the current paradigm...how it all comes together for you now, and GET WHAT YOU CAN, WHILE YOU CAN.
If you have materials, skills, articles, documents, books, videos, or ANYTHING civil defense preparedness in nature, PLEASE consider sharing it with me for this project. Contact info is available on my website.
I am finally getting some help from folks nationwide as well, SPECIFIC to the goals of creating this incredible resource of information and techical assistance. Packages of docs, files and page scans of info, help scanning in originals, and some small donations of cash are making ALL of this possible.
My thanks to all of you for your interest and support, and specifically the following folks for their wonderful help in PRODUCING the work so far...
Jay Griffin - Lander, Wyoming (scanning docs, specifically the FULL 130 page FEMA book, Risk and Hazards State By State - 12.8 meg PDF)
Jerry Paquette - West Union, Ohio ( scanned page images of the FEMA book, Radiation Safety in Shelters)
Jim Green - Boston, Mass ( donation of original materials including
Technical Standards for Fallout Shelter Design, DOD #TM72-1
Design of Structures to Resist Nuclear Weapons Effects, ASCE #42
Suggested Building Code Provisions for Fallout Shelters, DOD Office of Civil Defense #TR-36
Wind Resistant Design Concepts for residences, DCPA #TR-83
Living with Radiation, AEC
Protective Construction in a Nuclear Age, The RAND Corporation)
Arnold Jagt - Oregon ( shared the full digital version of NUCLEAR WAR SURVIVAL SKILLS he created for Art Robinson and OISM)
ALL the folks who gave donations for the site costs in the webhost changeover, and more.
Friends, there is SO much to be done, by all of us. Last year proved to us, and the world, that evil still exists, and ALL levels of preparedness MUST be taught and shared. Lives ARE at stake...every single day. You and I are the first defenses to protection and safety of our families. Be an active participant in your future, and consider, ALWAYS, the bigger, community picture. We are IN this world, and OF this world, and we MUST take responsibility for what we do or don't do. Don't let failure to follow thru be your epitaph. Leave the world better, and safer, then it was when you got here. Use the tools and info available here and else where to do it with.
I hope this little rant and info within helps you in some way, and I will be glad to continue assisting everyone via email. You know where to find me.
Richard Fleetwood
Founder - SurvivalRing, Civil Defense Now, and The Blast Shelter
http://www.survivalring.org
January 2, 2002
posted by rafleet | 12:33 PM
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