Hello, my friend and welcome back! In today’s post, we are going to look at Part 3 in our series. In this one, we are going to discuss Camp Security and what you need to consider when setting it up. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and have a seat while we visit.
Without doubt, camp security is easily one of, if not the main concern when laying out your survival compound. As we all know, in a post SHTF world, you will only have what you can keep others from taking. This is especially true for small compounds and is something which should be discussed before deciding where to put the first building in your compound.
When it comes to Security for your Survival compound, the very first thing you should do is a threat assessment for your location. What do I mean by that? How close are you to your neighbor’s property? Are you friends with your neighbors? How close is the nearest City or Military base? These are just a few of the questions you need to be asking yourself, when planning a security strategy.
If you and your neighbor are friends, then perhaps you could form an alliance to provide mutual support, if you haven’t already. If you and your neighbors don’t get along, then that is something you also need to consider. What about people and gangs from nearby cities? What direction will they likely be coming from? Will you be able to see them coming from a distance? All of these must be considered when planning the layout for your survival compound.
I would first start with building placement, as there are many issues you should consider before deciding just where and at what angle each building is placed. Remember that all of the buildings do not need to face the same way, and in fact, it is probably best if they don’t.
The Military have an expression called “Kill Box” or Kill Zone”. These are areas where you clearly have the advantage to kill anyone in this defined area. They should be created both inside and outside your property line. These are the places where you will want to engage the enemy. Your goal should be to place different obstacles in the enemies way or laying out your buildings,to drive them into a certain area of your compound.
Remember that when you layout your buildings, you should do so with the idea of being able to confront attackers from any direction. Many people, wrongly assume that they will only be attacked head on from a road leading to the compound. This type of thinking will get you killed. An experienced, former military person will attack from the sides and back, usually at oblique angles, because these are usually the least defended.
By planning for these types of attacks when laying out your compound, it will be much easier when the time comes to actually defend yourselves. You need to lay it all out before you start building and plan for as many possible contingencies as possible.
Something I want to touch on here is the use of “Mice Traps” as they are sometimes called. I’m sure many ex-military Preppers know what I’m talking about. It’s when you set up false cover, for approaching forces. What you want to do, is to layout or build something that looks like it would provide good cover for advancing forces, when they are really just designed to look that way. A good example is what would appear to be small concrete walls that are perfect to hide behind. The truth is that they are built from this plywood or Styrofoam and a thin covering of plaster or grouting. It looks like good cover, but it isn’t and will allow bullets to penetrate them easily. These can be used very effectively, when placed in the right places and care is taken to make them look real. The more creative you are, the better they will work.
Next is fencing and sensors. These two items seem to go hand in hand and also require a great deal of thought, when deciding what and where to put them. There are many types of fencing available. on the market. and each has its own pros and cons. Choose wisely my friend.
While the most common fences are made from barbed wire or chain-link due to their cost, especially on large properties, they are not always the best. Other fences such as those built from brick, cast iron or even old drill pipe, also make excellent fences. Barbed wire and chain-link fences can be easily cut and livestock herded through the openings, by thieves. Other than stopping cattle from roaming away from their pastures, they provide little use.
Fences made from stone or iron, pose a much greater challenge to thieves and attackers alike. It prevents them from simply sneaking in and taking what they want. Now, if you top these fences with razor wire or electric fencing, then you have an excellent deterrent. They are expensive for large compounds, but they are worth every penny.
There are several basic types of sensors available, depending on how you want to use them. Ground sensors are great for fence lines and can be connected in series with each other to let you know when someone is snooping around. Motion sensors are great for using around buildings, to detect when someone is walking up or sneaking up, for that matter. By placing a light sensor near buildings, they can also be used to trigger an alarm.
A good warning system is critical and should be planned out very carefully as well. Next is Security Personnel or “Guard Duty” as we called it in the military. Plan these shifts with the goal of sharing the load. It would be easy for someone who pulls security detail all the time to believe they are being punished. Sharing the load also helps keep people from falling asleep on duty.
Other things to note about security detail are to be sure you constantly vary the times, when you change shifts and the paths they walk around the perimeter. The idea is to keep anyone watching your compound guessing as to when and where your people will be at any given time. Let me also add that each person on duty should have a form of communications on them so as to be able to quickly alert others, should the need arise.
While I am sure many of my readers have other suggestions; I hope they will add them to the comments below. Only by sharing our knowledge can we become better and stronger.
I guess that is it for today, so until next time, stay safe, stay strong and stay prepared! God Save America!
-The Sargent-
Good points Sarge!
If I may offer some insights of my own…..One inexpensive addition can be wide areas of ‘stumble foot’ used in conjuration with punjui sticks, sharpened metal pipe or metal stakes, plywood sections with 4″ nails pounded thru, window pane glass shards, or sections of low barbed wire strands. Add rattle traps and noise makers. Trip flares even better. Vary the wire heights and color all strands with drab camo paint to blend in with seasonal ground cover. It will slow down attackers. Funnel combatants into predetermined kill zones. At night it would be treacherous to navigate without making noise and add confusion to the attackers.
With commercially available various night vision apparatus, determined attackers will probably have it and use it against you. Having previously strung halogen light bulbs or small strobe lights around your defensive positions that would face probable avenues of attack, and that can be turned on easily or remotely, would add a defensive force multiplier equal to the opposing forces element of surprise.
Thanks for the input! 🙂