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OPSEC & Family/ Retreat Security

Recently there have been a couple of posts by Lizard Farmer and Mountain Guerrilla that I simply felt the urge to chip in on and expand in my own direction. I noted with wry amusement the comments by LF & Mosby about not usually commenting on others posts but feeling the need to anyway – I often find a post by another sparks a thought process that turns into one of my posts. Anyway, I enjoyed Mosby’s ‘Skull-Stomping Sacred Cows….Again: Unconventional Warfare and the Modern Militia Movement’ which was written in defense of a post by LF that I have been unable to locate. 
This is what I want to talk about: OPSEC and related comments as they occur to me. 
I simply don’t have any OPSEC, at least not in the way that many of you consider it. I use gmail. I blog. I don’t have any fancy internet encryption. Everything I do is out there.
Why is that, you may ask? Well, firstly, I haven’t got anything to be secretive about. I am completely within my rights to blog as I do, there is nothing seditious or criminal about it. I simply haven’t got anything to hide. But you will tell me that the current Regime will be out to get me – but isn’t that really the point – to stand up and exercise our freedom? I refuse to be scared by collectivist, statist intimidation. If someone tried to unlawfully constrain my freedom, then its time to fight. Right?
Simply put, I will not be intimidated by the thought police. 
I utilize a pen name ‘Max Velocity’ – but if you find out who I am, which would probably take you about ten seconds if you wanted to, I am not overly worried. The pen name is not there to hide me from the Regime, it’s there to add a layer of protection to my family from crazies and idiots. 
I am not a computer whiz, my technological knowledge is limited. I simply assume that the NSA spiders are crawling all over any technology I have. I see little utility in trying to utilize computer or technology OPSEC, and in fact I believe that the more you try and hide, the more you will generate interest from the Regime, because they will think you are trying to do some secret squirrel ‘domestic terrorist’ crap.
My assumption is this: if you use any technology at all, then the Regime spiders are crawling all over it, in it and through it. That goes for anything: computers, cell phones, radios, cars with computers, EZPasses, anything that has any means of connecting to anything else.
If we reach the stage that we have to fight a technologically superior enemy ‘foreign or domestic’, say for example one equipped with the technology that the United States military/surveillance complex has at hand, then you have to assume that anything you do with any technology  is penetrated and tracked. 
At that point, throw the cell phone in the creek. If your communication is anything other than a runner with a memorized message, or a coded note, then you are wrong. Utilize dead drops, caches, old school stuff. I’m an old school kind of guy – expect, as a resistance fighter, to be living out in the woods hot or cold. Communication will be slow and unreliable. Intel will be gathered by the auxiliary, but it will be low level stuff, like observed patterns and routes of enemy convoys. This will be passed via runner or dead drop, and operations will be planned, fighters will glide through the woods using terrain masking and concealed routes, the ambush will happen. Analogue, not digital. An exception might be using land-line field telephones for short range communication between defensive positions, LP/OPs etc.
I my novel ‘Patriot Dawn: The Resistance Rises’ this analogue no-tech level of communication is something that the Resistance struggled with and has to make work. At one point OP’s are established overwatching some Regime bases, prior to a raid being planned. Gathering Intel on the bases. But they could not use radios to communicate back, such as conventional troops may use. Such communications would be subject to intercept and direction finding (DF). Instead, they utilized a runner/agent system who would, every other day, visit a dead drop in dead ground to the rear of the OP, where he would pick up the OP report and run it back to HQ. Simple, no-tech answers. Yes, the runner could be intercepted, but there is always some risk of discovery in anything you do. The OP itself could be compromised. 
Once you divest yourself of all your technology, you have to give thought to defeating the other types of Regime surveillance technology. Such as aerial thermal surveillance. I have blogged about that at length and it is also covered in detail in ‘Contact: A Tactical Manual for Post Collapse Survival’ and ‘Patriot Dawn: The Resistance Rises’.
There is another aspect to this, and that is those of you who think you can somehow conduct a resistance operation by night from your home in the suburbs, like some sort of secret agent. If/when this goes down, you need to bug out to somewhere remote. Families need to be moved to a protected location where they cannot be subject to reprisals and Regime raids. I’m not talking about the old ‘grab your bug-out bag and run off to survive in the woods’ prepper thing. I’m talking about something planned. If you stay in your house and want to be a fighter, then sooner or later you will be hit. Most likely because someone used a cell phone or whatever. And it won’t even be a ‘no knock raid’ as is the subject of this POST. You will be treated as a domestic terrorist the same way that people are treated in Yemen or Pakistan. Either a hellfire missile will hit your house with your family sleeping around you, or a kill squad will arrive in the dead of night and assault the house. If they think there is any utility in capturing you for interrogation, they may attempt that, but if there is any fight then the house will be lit up and your family is at great risk.
That is why for resistance operations we have the whole idea of the band of fighters out there in the woods. You have the auxiliary who operate ‘clean’ and gather intelligence, support with logistics etc. The Resistance fighters conduct targeted raids and attacks as possible. I simply add to this the necessity of protecting your family, and for any kind of SHTF/civil war  situation I advocate moving families to a hidden protected location. This is a strong feature of the storyline in ‘Patriot Dawn’ Hint: it’s like a manual that reads like a novel, utilizing the story to bring to life tactical concepts, bringing into play tactics that are described in the actual manual ‘Contact: A Tactical Manual for Post Collapse Survival’.
If you think about the movie ‘The Patriot’ the families were at risk when they stayed on their farms. The people of a village were portrayed being burned to death in a church – I don’t know how much that paret was based on events or just Hollywood. Mel Gibson’s family ended up escaping to a remote community hidden on a beach. The actual resistance band operated from an island in a swamp. You see what I am getting at…..
And this leads us to another point: you are the ultimate prepper, you have that isolated stocked retreat in the country side. You will get up in the morning, tend the tomatoes, collect eggs from the chickens, do a stint in an overwatch with your long-range rifle with which you can pick off any bad guys out to a range of 1000 meters. Then, its to bed with a cup or warm milk, from your cow. 
You are not patrolling, you are not running day and night surveillance of approaches, you are not running a tactical team, you are not actively engaged in the defense of your retreat. You think that approaching enemies will announce themselves so you can shoot them down with your marksmanship skills. Maybe you think your killer bees will protect you?
You are not engaged in a resistance operation, you are simply looking after number one. However, as soon as your location is noted, it’s all over for you. It depends who comes – if its just rag tag marauders you may beat them off, fine. If its an infantry company, then you won’t. And then the psychological problem is exposed – all your eggs are literally in one basket. It’s all stocked in your retreat. What are your exfil plans for when bumped by enemy in the night? Do you have rucks packed for each member or your group, alternate caches, perhaps located on your property on your exfil routes so you can quickly stock up before moving on? Perhaps you have a foot route or maybe ATV’s that can head out the back and over the hill?
Many of those who are preppers rather than those with a resistance fighter mindset are psychologically imprisoned at their retreat. They will likely die there. 
Even if you are not part of a large well organized resistance force, which is where most of us are, then you should at least think about grouping together with multiple families. What you want is enough people to tend the tomatoes, provide a stay at home defensive element, and also create tactical teams with a patrolling/raiding/ offensive capability. Even if you have a tactical team of four you could then go out and conduct operations against enemies foreign and domestic. Those enemies, in an SHTF situation, could be something like a raping cannibalistic biker gang that has taken over the local town, and you need to go down and raid them. Or it could be foreign troops, or whatever.
So, in summary:
1) If you are using any kind of technology, you don’t have OPSEC.
2) Don’t plan to stay at home, unless you are just squatting and hiding in place.
3) Organize into groups and secure the families first at a hidden secure location.
4) Create tactical teams that can conduct local defensive patrolling plus offensive operations as needed. 
Live Hard, Die Free.
MV

13 responses to “OPSEC & Family/ Retreat Security”

  5. All good points but for most of us who are awake and over 40 or 50 years old we just ain’t goin’ anywhere. Why? 1. This is not Afghanistan or the Turkish border with remote protective terrain and a citizen base who already lives rough. 2. If we are going to have to fight to keep our way of life the first thing we are not going to do is abandon our way of life. 3. If “everybody” bugs out then half of their work is done already, just gotta locate and destroy. Appreciate and understand your approach as a professional soldier but believe repression and finally resistance will take on a uniquely American slant whether urban, country, or plains. For me, my home is here.

    • Hello Anonymous,
      Very interesting point you make.
      This is certainly a perplexing issue, to stay or to escape.
      I have to believe that having a bug out location where your family can tough it out for about a full
      season, preferably through a harsh winter, should give enough time to watch Babylon burn from a distance and be the safest option.
      This would make a great book, those who did not live on dried deer jerky from animals they killed themselves, but an extended camping trip in the distant woods and came back to a devastated civilization after the riots.

    • Guess I should have clarified that we are rural and our square mile block usually has a good bit of shooting almost daily, some after midnite. Normal and accepted here. I do agree anyone living in a major population center should go to Aunt Martha’s old farm for sure, tho none of us will really be “hidden”.Walked 8 miles home the other day cause I won’t carry their slave phone. No problem, but pretty sure most tired, hungry, and dehydrated refugees from 60 miles away will not make it here in fighting condition. Point taken tho on biker and urban gangs, a very possible threat. My house is hardened at least against civilian/LEO types. Ready for “most” things – hell even my chickens have a grid down security plan. Glad to be awake and learning all I can from you guys. Thanks.

  6. Killer bees, lol. I’m going to do like the Russians in WW2. I’m going to train dogs to run under the armoured vehicles with mines on their back.

  7. Max,

    Just read an interesting article by one of my personal heroes, Ann Barnhardt, which relates directly to your theory regarding OPSEC, at least when it comes to your personal identity. Obviously OPSEC is extremely important when applicable. However, as Ann points out, it could be potentially dangerous when incorrectly applied. I would love to know what you think. Here is the link: http://www.barnhardt.biz/2013/08/21/stating-the-obvious-and-important-tactical-admonition-on-aliases/

    AP in SC
    III
    “American by birth, Southern by the Grace of God”

    P.S. Down 20lbs and counting. My plan is to lose another 20lbs before the 11/9-11/10/2013 class. See you then.

  8. I followed the embedded link to the video of the Apaches. There’s a part in the video where the camera zooms out and you realise just how far away they are. Those insurgents probably couldn’t tell exactly where the choppers were.

    Another thing that jumped out was the detail they can see. A group would almost have to live underground to avoid being seen by that, especially in the winter.

    In the case of resistance to the US gov/mil, would forming armed groups and fighting be the best method? An IRA style, blend into the population tactic would seem the way to go, sneaking out to the wilderness to train regularly. Of course, the IRA lost, so maybe not. How to beat the most technologically advanced military in history without air support is a tough question.

  9. Two things. If one were to go underground then they would one not learn the new rules of society; how to interact with strangers and not have it go bad, how to go about daily commence, what will be considered rude and being rude to armed veterans is not good I’m supposing, etc. Then one is not participation in how society will be like. Society is created every day by the actions and inactions of each of us every second of every day. So if one were to crawl out of a bunker after a few years one is going to have to accept how things are. I don’t have that luxury to just hid away, but I will have some input in how thing will be regardless of what is to come. Just making comments has some sort of effect.

  10. If a man is too scared to identify himself to anyone he is expressing his opinions or relevant advice to, whether by email, blog or whatever, he has already voluntarily given up the rights he espouses so much. Pen names don’t count, since they are not really about being scared to release info on who they are, or about secreting their ID from TPTB (If Max was concerned about his “secrecy” from .gov, he wouldn’t post a pic, a bio, and the fact he’s in the reserves). Hiding your identity from TPTB, out of fear of retaliation for your opinion, is no different than a guy saying he’ll give TPTB the guns they know about when the confiscations start, and he’ll still have the ones that don’t have papers (That’s right little lamb, they’ll leave you for last, but they’ll still visit). If your not going to stand up and use the damn guns, when they start confiscating them, when will you? Any fool that thinks they can trick or evade the alphabet soup agencies, while still using readily available tech to communicate, is deluding themselves, low tech is the name of the game, combined with the fifth principle of patrolling (COMMON SENSE). Back to my original premise, what’s the point in saying we have God given, inalienable rights, if we’re not willing to exercise them, whenever, and wherever we please? I say “Screw ’em!” Once I get my family to a safe location, I’ll be standing next to Max. The question you need to ask is this, Are you a FREE AMERICAN, with all the rights, privileges, and RESPONSIBILITIES that go along with it, or are you the French?